Holness tells Rubio: Cuban doctors not being exploited

JAMAICAN Prime Minister Andrew Holness says Cuban doctors are not exploited in Jamaica.

He made this comment at a joint news conference with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio at the Office of the Prime Minister, Kingston, Jamaica on March 26.

Holness held bilateral discussions with Rubio earlier in the day.

He said, "The Cuban doctors in Jamaica have been incredibly helpful to us. Jamaica has a deficit in health personnel, primarily because many of our health personnel have migrated to other countries. "

Jamaica, Holness continued, is very careful not to exploit the Cuban doctors who are here.

"We ensure that they are treated within our labor laws and benefit like any other worker. So any characterisation of the program by others certainly would not be applicable to Jamaica."

He said, "We are ensuring that our program complies with all the international laws and standards to which we are a party to.

Commenting on the issue, Rubio said it is important to separate the medical from the labour issues that are being referred to.

"This is not about doctors. This is not about the provision of medical assistance. We have no problem with medical assistance and we don’t have a problem with doctors."

Rubio said the US is not speaking specifically about Jamaica or any other country but "about this program in general, how it’s operated around the world."

He added the programme involves paying the Cuban government and not the doctor.

"The Cuban government decides how much, if anything, to give them; they take away their passports; they basically operate as forced labor in many places"

Rubio acknowledged some places have better labour standards than others.

"Perhaps Jamaica is one of those, and that’s fine. But I’m describing generally what the program has been. It has operated in that way in many parts of the world and placed these people in tremendous danger."

Rubio said trafficking in labour is not something the US supports.

He added, "We find that to be an egregious practice on the part of the Cuban regime.

On February 25, Rubio issued a statement about restricting visas of government officials whose countries employ Cuban healthcare workers.

Rubio claimed Cuba continued to profit from the forced labour of its workers and the regime's abusive and coercive labour practices had been well documented.

Subsequently, then prime minister Dr Keith Rowley had rejected Rubio's position, saying TT relied on specialists for its healthcare delivery which over the years have come from several countries, including India, the Philippines, Africa and mainly Cuba.

Rowley resigned as prime minister on March 16. Energy Minister Stuart Young was sworn in as prime minister on March 17.

Holness said Jamaica and the US reaffirmed their commitment to enhancing cooperation in combating transnational crime, ensuring the collective safety of their citizens, and mutually secured borders.

"We discussed a global war on gangs, and there is already significant policy alignment with both countries in this regard. The US has been instrumental in supporting Jamaica’s efforts to bolster its marine domain awareness and intelligence surveillance capabilities, which are crucial in our fight against organised criminal networks."

Holness said the US and Jamaica also found common ground with respect to resolving the ongoing political and security situation in Haiti.

"The extraordinary humanitarian, civil, and national security challenges in Haiti pose an acute threat to Haitians, to regional stability, and indeed to its close neighbors, including Jamaica."

He added, "We agreed that we must do everything we can to stabilise the security situation in Haiti so that they are better able to build capacity and address their political and humanitarian challenges."