St Lucia says no formal agreement with Cuba despite presence of health workers

The St Lucia government has moved to clarify its relationship with Cuba, maintaining that there is no formal agreement in place for the provision of medical personnel, even as Cuban health workers continue to operate in the country.

Prime Minister Phillip J. Pierre addressed the issue during a press briefing, pushing back against suggestions that the government has entered into a contractual arrangement with Havana.

“We do not have any agreement with the Cuban government and doctors. We have no agreement. We have no signed agreement for doctors with the Cuban government. Let me say it again, we have no signed agreement as we speak with the Cuban government for the provision of any doctors,” he said.

Pierre explained that Cuban doctors currently working in St Lucia are employed directly by the Ministry of Health and are treated the same as other medical professionals.

According to Pierre, the Cuban doctors currently employed in St Lucia are engaged directly by the Ministry of Health and “get paid like regular doctors”. He added that any future arrangement “depends on the supply and demand”, but reiterated that there is “no written agreement with the Cuban government as it is to doctors who are working here or the medical personnel who are working here”.

The prime minister said the information had been relayed to him by the Ministry of Health, stressing once more “that there is no signed agreement… People who are working here are working like regular doctors, getting paid … as regular health personnel”.

The clarification comes at a time when several Caribbean governments are reassessing their longstanding participation in Cuba’s medical brigade programme, which has faced increasing scrutiny from the United States.

Washington has urged regional governments to withdraw from the programme, arguing that Cuba’s deployment of medical staff overseas amounts to exploitation. American officials have alleged that Cuban health workers are subjected to “withheld wages, confiscated passports, forced family separation and exile, restriction of movement through curfews and surveillance, intimidation and threats, and even pressure to falsify medical records and fabricate procedures”. The US position also highlights concerns about excessive working hours and unsafe conditions.

For now, St Lucia maintains that its Cuban medical personnel are simply employees of the national health system. Whether that arrangement evolves into a more formal agreement, Pierre indicated, remains uncertain.