- “A Setback for Us”: MMDC Deputy Administrator Warns of Consequences
- Modern Medical Centre at risk of collapse without Cuban medical experts
“It would be a setback for us,” — Deputy Hospital Administrator Deputy Hospital Administrator at the Modern Medical and Diagnostic Centre (MMDC) Idinger Miller-Walker said Cuban medical experts provide an invaluable service to Vincentians and it would be a shock to the health care system if the medical mission is aborted.
In an interview with the API, Miller- Walker says over 80 percent of the services at the MMDC, ranging from oncology to nephrology (which includes dialysis) as well as radiography, are led by Cuban Personnel.
“It would be a setback for us… because what would we do with the sixty-four patients who receive dialysis right now? these persons who boost our existing cadre of staff, think of what it would be like if we do not have the Cubans among us, they are in the lab, they are in the pharmacy… who work with the preparation of the chemotherapy treatment,” Miller-Walker stressed.
Approximately 32 Cubans specialists are assigned to the MMDC, working alongside local doctors and nurses. “We do not want to omit our local specialists, but we must acknowledge the work that the Cubans are doing…. since the installation of the MRI, that department relies heavily on the Cubans,” Miller-Walker noted.
The United States Government recently threatened to suspend the visas for Caribbean Government Officials, calling the Cuban Medical programme, a form of Human Trafficking.
Caribbean Governments have responded to Washington, noting that the programme is voluntary and transparent and is an important component of the health services in these countries as the Cubans provide life-saving treatment and expertise. There are just over 80 Cuban Medical Experts working in the Public Health care system.