By Ivan Cairo
Caribbean Net News Suriname Correspondent
Email: ivan@caribbeannetnews.com

PARAMARIBO, Suriname: A number of Cuban doctors arrived in Suriname this week for a two year’s stint to work in the remote interior of the country, while at least five of the medical specialists will work at the Academic Hospital and the Bureau of Public Health in the capital Paramaribo.

In an interview with Health Minister Celsius Waterberg, the official disclosed that an earlier agreement between Suriname and Cuba to facilitate the medical mission has been revised. The minister was due to sign the amended agreement on Thursday.

In 2000, an earlier medical mission failed when Cuban doctors, on arrival in Suriname, were confronted with heavy resistance from the local medical fraternity and lack of cooperation.

The Association of Physicians in Suriname and the Medical Faculty of the University then claimed that the country didn’t need the Cuban doctors and they were never able to render any medical care.

Due to frustration over the failure of his mission, the head of the Cuban delegation committed suicide and the remaining doctors shortly after returned to Cuba.

Minister Waterberg, himself a medical doctor graduated in Cuba, said that during a recent visit to Havana to renew the agreement, he formally apologised to the Cuban authorities for the failure of the 2000 mission.

“We do hope that with better preparations we now could avoid the problems that ruined the first mission in 2000,” said Waterberg.

The doctors know up front exactly what is expected of them in Suriname and there will be proper guidance, added the official.

General practitioners are being dispatched to the maroon villages, Drietabiki, Djumu, Debike and Brokopondo in the remote interior, while one of the health workers is being sent to Wageningen.

The Cuban doctors will receive a monthly allowance of US$300 from the Suriname government while Cuba will pay their regular salary.

According to the Health Minister, the medical specialists will start as early as next week when “the paper work has been finalised”. The remaining five doctors will receive an internship concerning medical procedures in Suriname, before being sent off to their respective locations.

“They will receive a short training on how practitioners in Suriname operate; which drugs to prescribe and which medications are available before they leave for their posts,” said the official.

The cooperation with Cuba is aiming at tackling the shortage of doctors in Suriname, especially in the remote interior.