Vice President John Dramani Mahama, on Sunday, announced that the government had signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Cuba to start the training of 250 Ghanaians as medical doctors by next year. He said the government was currently engaged in selecting the students from deprived districts, who, on completion, would be posted to serve their people. Vice President Mahama announced this when Estaban Lazo Hernandez, Vice President of Cuba, called on him at the Osu Castle, as part of his four-day official visit to Ghana.

The Cuban Vice President, who led an 11-member delegation to harness business and bilateral co-operation, would also visit Mali and Equitorial Guinea before returning to his country. Mr. Mahama said as part of the MoU, other paramedical staff would also be trained, while the government would also collabotate with Cuba to develop biotechnology plants and vaccines that could avoid rampant amputations in Ghana’s health facilities. He said: “Cuba is advanced in the biotechnology which prevents patients from amputation, and Ghana is collaborating with them in that respect, to practise in various health centres in the country.” Vice President Mahama commended the Cuban government for their annual posting of the Medical Brigade to Ghana, which he said, had helped in solving the numerous health problems, particularly, in the rural areas, where there are no qualified health personnel. He said the government would continue to support the Cuban government to fight against the Cuban economic blockade, and facilitate the release of the five Cuban nationals jailed in the US. The Vice President, who traced the relations of the two countries to the hard work of President Kwame Nkrumah and Fidel Castro, said Cuba had a lot of things in common with Ghana, which both governments should exploit for their development.

“Both Ghana and Cuba have the penchant to fight against oppression and other kinds of abuse, which we need to use in our development plans in future.” Vice President Hernandez, who sounded quite philosophical, described the world as “a place of multi-crises, made up of financial, food, climate and cultural crises throughout the globe, with numerous wars and states of instability.” He said the Cuban government was re-focusing the economy on agriculture as a revival strategy, after losing export commodities, due mainly, to the economic blockade with its resultant high food prices.

He said Cuba, which had the comparative advantage for sugarcane production, was becoming a pale shadow of herself, and would therefore, re-stratigise to recapture her position in the world market.

The Cuban Vice President said his outfit would collaborate with Ghana to fight against the high incidence of malaria and other environmental-related diseases in the coming years. –