More than 200 Cuban doctors are expected to land in South Africa today, Sunday April 26, to help in the fight against COVID-19.
“Very soon a specialised Cuban medical brigade will be arriving,” said Cuban Ambassador Rodolfo Benítez Verson in a livestream. The Cuban embassy said in a press release that the doctors are expected to arrive near midnight tonight.
They will be deployed in different provinces across the country in line with the Health Department’s strategic plans.
“These are times of solidarity and cooperation, if we act together we can halt the spread of the coronavirus in a faster, more cost-effective manner,” he said.
South Africa is not the only country to receive assistance from the Cuban medical brigade. According to the Ambassador, these doctors have been deployed to 22 countries worldwide already.
There are 217 members of this brigade who left the island nation on Saturday for South Africa. According to the Cuban embassy, they include family physicians, epidemiologists, biologists, healthcare technology experts, engineering experts, biotechnology experts and other specialists
“The advantage of Cuba is that their community and district health model is actually one that we would like to use because it works in instances where we would like to reach out to as many communities and ensure there is good [coverage] at community level,” Minister of Health Zweli Mkhize said in a briefing earlier this month.
South Africa sent the plane which has fetched the doctors, and stocked it with medical supplies to assist Cuba in its own fight against the virus.
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