After Italy and Andorra, they are deployed in France. Fifteen Cuban doctors arrived in Martinique on Friday to help the territory face the coronavirus epidemic and alleviate the shortage of doctors, a first for France.
The doctors, all in white coats and masked, arrived in the early afternoon (early evening for Paris) at Lamentin airport, with a Cuban flag, on a special flight.
Their mission in Martinique, which will last three months, will serve to cover certain specialties including pneumology, infectious diseases, radiology or even emergency medicine, according to the Martinican authorities. These doctors will also be able to help fight the coronavirus epidemic.
“Exchange of practices”
France therefore becomes the third European state after Italy and Andorra, to receive direct help from Cuban health professionals. The socialist island has long established the export of medical services, which is one of the engines of its economy.
This “brigade” has a total of a pulmonologist, two specialists in internal medicine, an infectious disease specialist, two anesthesiologists, three radiologists, two nephrologists, a hematologist, an emergency doctor, a brigade chief and an administrative director.
“This international medical cooperation action is organized within the framework of the Covid-19 pandemic, in response to a request to strengthen certain medical specialties, at the CHUM and at the Saint-Paul clinic,” said the Collectif territoriale de Martinique ( CTM), in a statement on Friday.
This mission aims to “facilitate the exchange of practices between the medical teams of Martinique and their Cuban counterparts in the international context of the management of COVID-19”, and “to model more active medical cooperation within the Caribbean”, adds the CTM.
The epidemic stabilized on the island
The coronavirus epidemic has so far stabilized on the island. Thursday, the territory counted 240 people infected since the beginning of the epidemic (+ 4 cases, in one week) and 14 deaths.
