Hon. Dr. Fenton Ferguson, Minister of Health today (January 17, 2012) signed a Technical Cooperation Agreement between the Ministry of Health, Jamaica and the Ministry of Public Health of the Republic of Cuba. Cuban Ambassador, His Excellency Yuri Gala Lopez, signed on behalf of Cuba. The signing took place at the Ministry’s 2-4 King Street head office in Kingston. Under the terms of the Agreement, Cuba will provide four hundred and ninety nine (499) professionals over a two year period which will include: doctors, medical technologists, cytotechnologists, nurses, nursing tutors, physiotherapists and clinical dieticians.

The health professional and technical personnel were identified following a rigorous process of selection which involved Ministry of Health and Regional Health Authorities personnel travelling to the People’s Republic of Cuba to conduct interviews

Dr. Ferguson said that the Government intends to place great focus on primary health care renewal in keeping with one of the ten national strategies that is contained in the National Development Plan, Vision 2030. “To this end, twenty (20) doctors will be placed in the primary health care setting in the first year to give an immediate boost to service delivery at this level of the health system,” he said.

Ninety seven (97) nurses will be placed in both primary and secondary care in year one of the Agreement. “It is imperative that quality health care is delivered closer to the level of communities in order to reduce the non health cost to access health service. Whilst this government has given a commitment for universal access to free health care at the primary health care level, we want to ensure that quality is not compromised. A strong and effective primary health care service will go a far way in restoring public confidence and trust in the public health sector” said the Minister.

Minister Ferguson pointed out that the shortage in the health workforce is not confined to Jamaica. Quoting World Health Organization (WHO) statistics, the Minster said that the global shortage was four (4) million of a 100 million health workforce. “There is a direct correlation between the availability of health workers and the state’s ability to provide health care to its citizens. This Agreement improves the state’s ability to achieve adequate workforce mobilization as part of our overall attempt to strengthen the health system,” said Dr. Ferguson.

Meanwhile, Cuban Ambassador His Excellency Yuri Gala Lopez said that the first batch of twenty (20) doctors and ninety seven (97) nurses will arrive in the island in February.