Jamaica’s decision to end Cuban medical program not influenced by US, says gov’t

Jamaica’s Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade, Kamina Johnson Smith, has confirmed that the decision to discontinue the deployment of Cuban medical professionals in the public health sector resulted from an inability to reach agreement on new terms under a revised technical cooperation framework—not due to external pressure from the United States.

“You would have heard us defending the programme in various contexts… Where the programme came into conflict with those things, unfortunately, we were not able to reach agreement on correcting them and that is why the programme has ended,” Senator Johnson Smith told the Standing Finance Committee at Gordon House on Thursday (March 5).

The previous agreement with the Cuban Government expired in February 2023, and the Jamaican Government has been attempting to renegotiate it over the past three years. Senator Johnson Smith outlined some of the issues under discussion: “There were issues that were easily solved. We were going to put the Eye-Programme and the General Medical Programme together in one document. We were going to look at the issue of the ability to celebrate Cuban National Days here, et cetera.”

However, additional matters arose that conflicted with Jamaican law, and despite sensitive and good-faith negotiations, an agreement could not be reached. “It is regrettable that we were unable to so do,” the Minister stated.

To ensure continuity of care and protect the well-being of Cuban medical professionals still in Jamaica, the Government said the Ministry of Health and Wellness will engage them individually under local labour laws for the remainder of their scheduled tenure.