Jamaica’s Minister of Well being and Wellness, Dr. Christopher Tufton, has reaffirmed the Jamaican authorities’s dedication to its long-standing partnership with Cuba, describing the collaboration as one which continues to yield vital advantages for the nation’s healthcare system.
“I need to simply say very clearly that we worth the partnership with Cuba. We worth their contribution; we at the moment have 88 Cuban docs and 199 nurses right here. I need to simply recognise the initiatives and their efforts and, hopefully, we are going to proceed to construct on that,” Dr. Tufton stated.
Talking throughout his contribution to the 2025/26 Sectoral Debate within the Home of Representatives on Tuesday, June 10, Dr. Tufton emphasised the significance of continued worldwide collaboration to deal with the challenges posed by a extremely cellular international well being workforce.
“The way forward for HR (human sources) in well being would require extra collaborations, nonetheless, utilizing expertise and friendships to fill the gaps which have been and are being created from a extremely cellular labour pressure. We’ve got to look wider, suppose deeper and modify our conventional pondering round who and tips on how to get extra expertise in healthcare,” he added.
Consistent with this strategy, the Ministry of Well being and Wellness has begun exploring long-term coaching and medical change partnerships with India, the Philippines, and Nigeria. These nations, Dr. Tufton stated, had been chosen primarily based on present diplomatic ties, language compatibility, alignment in coaching strategies and expertise, and former optimistic experiences with healthcare professionals from these nations.
“Earlier this yr, I visited India and the Philippines. We had glorious discussions and there’s a follow-up when it comes to attempting to actualise these relationships for the advantage of coaching. The place coaching is just not adequate and now we have gaps and our Jamaicans need assistance, and we are able to set up a medical change… we’re going to must do the identical factor as we do with the Cubans,” he stated.
The Minister’s remarks underscore the federal government’s concentrate on strengthening the nation’s healthcare system by leveraging each conventional alliances and new international partnerships.
