Jamaica to rehire Cuban nurses under direct contracts
by Macarena Hermosilla · UPIJuly 6 (UPI) -- Jamaica's health minister said some 50 Cuban nurses will return to the country's public health system with individual employment contracts under a new arrangement adopted after Kingston ended its bilateral medical cooperation agreement with Havana.
Jamaica's public health system faced staffing shortages after Cuban medical personnel, including nurses, left the country after the bilateral program ended.
In March, Cuba withdrew a medical brigade of 277 health care professionals from Jamaica, although about 40 nurses remained after accepting direct contracts with the Jamaican government.
Another group of 50 Cuban nurses is expected to return in the coming days after the government offered them the opportunity to continue working in Jamaica under the new employment model.
"So we are expecting some relief in that regard," Health Minister Chris Tufton told local broadcaster TVJ News on Sunday.
The bilateral agreement, which had been in place for five decades, was not renewed after the two governments failed to reach new terms.
Jamaica's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said it submitted proposals to renegotiate the agreement with Cuba in July, October and December last year, but never received a substantive response from Havana, according to CiberCuba.
The Cuban government blamed cancellation of the program on pressure from Washington and accused Jamaica of yielding to U.S. policy toward Cuba's overseas medical missions.
According to multiple media reports, the breakdown of the agreement was influenced by U.S. concerns over labor rights within Cuba's international medical missions and Jamaica's demand that health care workers receive their salaries directly.
Under the new arrangement, workers receive those salaries directly and retain control of their passports and travel documents -- an issue that also had been a source of friction under the previous program.
In addition to bringing back Cuban medical professionals, Jamaica has expanded its international recruitment efforts. Tufton said officials have interviewed candidates from Ghana and the Jamaican diaspora and signed memorandums of understanding with Nigeria and India.
The minister also said a technical delegation from the Philippines will visit Jamaica next month to advance discussions on a possible health care workforce cooperation agreement.