Cuba and Panama strengthen cooperation in health

Havana, Sept 28 (RHC) The Ministers of Health of Cuba, José Ángel Portal, and of Panama, Luis Francisco Sucre, signed today a Memorandum of Understanding and ratified the willingness to strengthen cooperation in health matters.

The signing took place in the context of a transit visit of the Cuban minister to Panama, after participating in the 60th session of the Directing Council of the Pan American Health Organization.

Both parties ratified the common willingness to deepen the links of cooperation in health matters and evaluated the existing potential to diversify these links for the benefit of their people.

The Memorandum of Understanding is aimed at strengthening Public Health, both nationally and internationally, through the development of complementary capacities.

The document seeks to stimulate cooperation based on the exchange of experiences and the generation of new work initiatives, greater access and transfer of technologies, and the strengthening of regulatory authorities for medicines and medical devices.

It also seeks to promote the development of joint programs for patient care, and capabilities for the training and management of human resources, as well as the application of innovative products from the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries.

The collaborative actions in health matters between Cuba and Panama extend for several years. They include the implementation of the Operation Miracle Program, in the first decade of 2000, and the graduation of 841 Panamanian Health professionals in the classrooms of the universities of Medical Sciences on the island.

The text also highlights the work of the 228 members of the Henry Reeve Contingent, who arrived in that Central American nation in December 2020 to support the fight against the Covid-19 pandemic. (Source: PL)