Lydia Margarita Gonzalez, Cuban ambassador in Panama, and Nadja Porcell, general director of Health of the Ministry of Health (MINSA), were at the Tocumen air terminal in the capital to welcome the 231 members of the Cuban contingent ‘Henry Reeve’, specialized in assisting victims of natural disasters and epidemics.

The Panamanian health authorities announced this week that, given the critical situation and the lack of specialists, they resorted to external help from professionals from Cuba and the United States, countries that will provide the largest number of personnel, in addition to Mexico, Colombia and Venezuela.

Health Minister of Panama Luis Francisco Sucre reported on Thursday that the first foreign specialists would arrive this week, and will work temporarily in critical places in the capital, the neighboring province of Western Panama and western Chiriquí, and confirmed as well the help of the Pan American Health Organization in the certification of the curricula of foreign specialists.

The Official Gazette, for its part, published on Wednesday the Executive’s resolution that authorized MINSA to sign the Cooperation Agreement for Emergency Response with its Cuban counterpart for ‘three renewable months.’

The document stated that there will be 10 teams made up of ‘doctors, nurses and assistants trained to deal with disasters and serious epidemics, so that they provide services in different territories and community health care centers and hospitals in Panama.’

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