Guyana Health Minister Frank Anthony informed reporters earlier this week that Cuba has chosen to end the medical delegation program after nearly 50 years and recently requested a team of more than 200 Cuban doctors to prepare to leave this South American country.
We have worked with the Cuban government and they have chosen to end or withdraw the Cuban doctors who are here," said Minister Frank Anthony.
He said that despite disagreements between the two governments, Guyana is willing to re-sign contracts to hire Cuban doctors who remain in Guyana through personal contracts.
The withdrawal of the delegation from Guyana occurred when the government of this South American nation decided to pay full salaries to Cuban doctors and nurses instead of transferring most of the payments to the Cuban government.
Cuban doctors have worked in African, South American and Caribbean countries for decades under diplomatic agreements.
Cuban doctors, assessed as highly skilled, have played an important role in rural areas of Latin America lacking basic healthcare infrastructure such as the Amazon region and some areas in Central America.
Providing healthcare services in places where services are still scarce has also brought a source of foreign currency revenue to the Cuban government.
The decision to withdraw Cuba's medical delegation from Guyana took place in the context of the US President Donald Trump's administration implementing many measures to put pressure on Cuba, including blockading oil shipments to the island.
Before Guyana, Cuban medical delegations were also leaving many other countries. Last week, the Jamaican government terminated the operation of the Cuban medical delegation, which had been operating in the country for decades due to disagreements between the two sides on the plan to pay doctors directly.
Also last week, 168 Cuban medical staff left Honduras when the government suspended contracts with the Cuban medical team working here, on the grounds that the program no longer met the regulations.
The Cuban medical team has been present in Honduras since 2024, after a cooperation agreement between the governments of the two countries. President of the Honduras Medical Association Samuel Santos said that Cuban doctors, nurses, and ophthalmologists are paid from 1,600 to 2,500 USD/month, along with accommodation, paid vacations and air tickets to Cuba.
Some other Caribbean countries, including the Bahamas, Antigua, Dominica and St. Lucia, have also expressed interest in changing the way Cuban doctors are paid.
