Cuba Sends Doctors To Ailing Italy – REPORT
Caribbean country heeds worst-hit Lombardy’s plea for help
HAVANA, CUBA – A group of Cuban doctors and nurses flew to Lombardy, Italy to assist the Mediterranean country in its crucial fight against the novel coronavirus.
In a report by Reuters, 52 medical practitioners made up the Caribbean contingent to Italy. This is the sixth brigade that Cuba deployed to assist other nations in battling COVID-19.
Socialist allies Venezuela, Nicaragua, as well as Caribbean neighbours Jamaica, Suriname, and Grenada also received Cuba’s medical support.
As of writing, Italy has recorded a whopping 5,000 deaths due to the infectious coronavirus.
The Mediterranean country surpassed China, which recorded 3,261 deaths.
Cuba heeded the request of Lombardy, the worst-hit area in Italy and remains in a critical situation with 3,095 deaths and 25,515 cases.
“We are all afraid but we have a revolutionary duty to fulfil, so we take out fear and put it to one side,” 68-year-old intensive care specialist said in an interview with Reuters for the same article.
This is not the first time that Cuba rose to the occasion during a contagion. The Caribbean country is known for its generosity in sending medical support to poor countries since the 1959 revolution.
To name a few, the Cuban doctors were in Haiti to deal with cholera and in West Africa to combat ebola during the first decade of the new millennium.
Despite being punished by US sanctions, communist Cuba holds a very high ratio of physicians per capita worldwide—excluding doctors abroad.
COVID-19 in Cuba
Meanwhile, Cuba has 16 recorded cases of COVID-19 at the World Health Organization database as of March 21.
It is also busy beefing up its health security at home.
Beginning Tuesday, March 24, Cuba will close its borders to foreign non-residents.
Thousands of doctors and medical students will also do door-to-door monitoring in their local communities.
The WHO also launched a campaign via WhatsApp to provide correct information about the new coronavirus.