Brussels, April 4 (RHC)-- The European Parliament's Group of Friendship and Solidarity with Cuba thanked the Cuban government for its decision to send medical brigades to European countries affected by COVID-19.

"We deeply recognize the help in containing the pandemic outbreak, a gesture of solidarity that shows the altruistic spirit of a people that does not give what it has in excess, but shares what it has," the group formed on February 19 for the 9th Legislature of the European Parliament said in a statement.

MEPs highlighted the presence of 50 Cuban health professionals in the battered Italian region of Lombardy and around 40 in the principality of Andorra.

They also said that this cooperation in times of the impact of the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus is part of the characteristic generosity of Cuba, despite the economic, commercial and financial blockade imposed by the United States, which has been in place for almost six decades.

Since 1963, Cuba has sent more than 400,000 health professionals to 164 countries and has been present in the most serious health crises. Proof of this was the medical assistance it provided after the devastating earthquakes in Pakistan (2005) and Haiti (2010), as well as during the Ebola crisis in West Africa, in 2014', they stressed.

The Friendship and Solidarity Group of the European Parliament also recognized the support of island doctors to several Latin American and Caribbean nations.

"We are grateful to the Cuban health personnel for the lives saved, their professionalism, the courage showed, and the love with which they carry out their humanitarian work," the statement said.