Guatemala City, March 11 (RHC) -– Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez held a meeting in Guatemala City with members of the island's medical brigade currently offering their services in 16 out of 22 provinces of that Central American nation.

The meeting took place at Cuba's diplomatic mission in Guatemala City, shortly before the foreign minister left for Antigua to attend the 20th Session of the Council of Ministers of the Association of Caribbean States (ACS).

Rodriguez expressed interest in the living conditions of the doctors in Guatemala, where the island's contingent numbers 472 medical personnel. He inquired about the most difficult places where the doctors are currently working.

Medical contingent coordinator Manolo Torres said that the hospital in the locality of La Tinta, in the northern-central province of Alta Verapaz, is the most difficult because only 12 doctors are treating more than 35,000 patients, most of whom live in extreme poverty.

Cuban doctors in Guatemala have saved over 294,000 lives since November 1998 up to last February, according to statistics of the medical brigade.