Nurses stay

Threats from the United States will not stop Barbados from using Cuban nurses to help the country fight COVID-19.

While noting that Barbados has taken the stance to be “friends of all, satellites of none”, Minister of Health Lt Col Jeffrey Bostic said “Barbados is a sovereign country and we make decisions in the interest of our country just like other countries large and small, make all of their decisions in the interest of their countries.”

“We have engaged the nurses from Cuba. Barbados had diplomatic relations from the 1970s with Cuba when other countries were trying to do the same thing, put pressure, and we are not going to buckle under the pressure of any other nation. We are doing what is in the interest of our people. The nurses will remain here because we expect that we will have more cases,” he said.

Bostic was speaking at a Barbados Labour Party (BLP) St Philip South East branch meeting on Sunday when he addressed the issue.

In response to the current pandemic, Cuba dispatched 28 contingents of medical personnel to help 26 countries, in addition to the more than 28 000 Cuban doctors, nurses and health professionals who were already overseas before the pandemic.

The contingents have come under increasing attacks by the Trump administration which has accused Cuba of human trafficking through its doctor programme.

The US government has also been using pressure and threats against countries to force them to cancel these medical cooperation agreements.

However, Bostic noted that Barbados is in need of the professional assistance from the Cuban health practitioners who will also play a pivotal role as Barbados welcomes tourists, including from COVID-19 hot spot countries, to the island.

“We are a tourism-based country which is 40 per cent or so of our GDP, if not more. I don’t think people in the United States really understand that we cannot, at this point in time, do without tourism and the tentacles of tourism have reached deep and far; from people braiding hair on the beach… There are so many people impacted and affected by this, and the only way that we can facilitate or allow tourism is if we have a capacity to deal with a spread, and those 100 Cuban nurses, that is what they are here for.

“They are not here free, the Government of Barbados is paying for the service, they have them in several countries of the world and we will continue to do what is in the interest of Barbados, on behalf of the people of Barbados,” Bostic said. anestahenry@barbadostoday.bb