SOURCE: TRINDAD EXPRESS: Send Cuban doctors and nurses back home.- This is the position of former health minister Dr Fuad Khan, who was reacting yesterday to outgoing Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley’s taking a stance against the United States’ proposed threat to penalise officials of governments using Cuban medics by revoking their visas.
Rowley on Monday said he would protect Trinidad and Tobago’s sovereignty even if it means never returning to the United States.
And Opposition Leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar yesterday said Trinidad and Tobago’s first priority should be utilising local healthcare professionals rather than engaging in a dispute with the United States over its crackdown on Cuban medical labour.
In an interview with the Express, Khan acknowledged that the People’s Partnership government did source Cuban specialists, but only for a short term to fill a gap. He said Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley should act swiftly and send Cuban doctors and nurses back, as he is treading a “dangerous” line by defying US President Donald Trump.
Khan told the Express the Prime Minister should engage in discussions with the Cuban government about ending the contracts of Cuban health workers and sending them back.
“We (the former Kamla Persad-Bissessar government) did it at a time when we did not have many specialists here, and only for a contracted period of three years,” he said.
He explained that specialists such as haematologists, neurosurgeons and vitreoretinal surgeons from Cuba were hired.
“It was not Cuban general doctors as the PNM did,” he said.
Khan stated the Couva Children’s Hospital was intended to be used for specialist training by retired senior specialists, but this was shelved by the Rowley Government.
Since 2013, many T&T specialists have been capable of providing these services, he added. “So we really and truly do not need specialists or general doctors from Cuba at this point in time,” he said.
Khan, who is a Trump supporter, said he agrees with the US President that Trinidad and Tobago is violating US sanctions on Cuba by hiring Cuban healthcare professionals.
He pointed out that the Cuban doctors do not receive any payment directly from the Trinidad and Tobago Government, but instead receive a stipend from the Cuban government.
“We are paying the Cuban government for these doctors. I never looked at it like that until President Trump raised this issue. We are basically sidestepping US sanctions by hiring these doctors,” he said.
Khan explained what happens: “The doctors are sent to Trinidad, and couples are separated. No husband and wife can come together at the same time.
“We have to pay the Cuban Embassy in US dollars to bring these doctors in. They (doctors) don’t get paid; they get a stipend. So really and truly, when you look at it, it’s a political abuse of these people. Trump is not wrong, but I never looked at it in that manner,” he said.
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Kamla is a real CLOWN!!!!!
Simple solution…pay the doctors directly
Expect no better from the “cool” Trinis! Remember the Federation experiment. Let’s deal with them for once and for all. Wicked set o’ people!
They so “cool” that the WINGCUP PREACHERMAN KELVIN SHUGY SIMON prefer to spend time with them instead of representing St. Marys Shouth in Parliament. Watta calamity!!!
This is dumb. For one the U.S sanction have no ground and is illegal it is done out of spite and only 2 counties in the UN votes against it being lifted being USA and Israel, we have not American Trump have 0 say in what we do. The Caribbean nations should not implode to his pressure and tell him to go and move he…
Dr. Khan and Khamla really acting like two ungrateful clowns. So anything the USA president wants you to do irrespective of the circumstances, you just have to follow? Today, it is the Cuban doctors and you just lay down. Tomorrow, it will be something else and you will lay again. Soon, you will be bedridden and never be able to get up.
This article just reminds me of a speech given by the GREAT leader of today, Ibrahim Traore from Burkino Faso, in which he stated that there are 3 things that we have to get rid of and one of them was cowardness.
I am sure that President Traore would look at this as a positive trigger for the Caribbean. It is now time for us to intensify our unity and to reflect on who we are as a people. The problem is that we are so brainwashed, that we cannot even see our strength. We are like battered housewives that are afraid to get our of the marriage because we don’t think we can stand on our own.
We need to be awakened. I know our Prime Minister has vision and he has been trying to link us back with the motherland. But our people are so brainwashed, that we are even afraid of our own colour.
My people wake up, the alarm is sounding. These petty annoyance coming from a superpower is a sign of desperation. As of 2024, BRICS countries GDP is approximately 35% and the G7 is 30%. And for 2025, nine more countries joined BRICS, including Cuba, which means the percentage is greater. Countries can now borrow from the BRICS block with less restrictions than using the IMF or World Bank.
So, is this new annoyance a retaliation because Cuba joined BRICS?