Cuba to build three new hospitals in Haiti

Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez Parrilla met with Haitian President Michel Martelly and members of his cabinet in Port-au-Prince last week.

According to Radio Havana, the Cuban diplomat announced that Cuba will continue assisting the neighbouring nation. This assistance includes building three new hospitals in Haiti and increasing the number of scholarships for Haitian medical students, said Haitian Foreign Minister Laurent Lamothe.

“We had a very positive meeting,” Lamothe told reporters after participating in the meeting at the National Palace in the Haitian capital.

Lamothe added that Martelly and Rodriguez discussed the implementation of a reforestation project and a literacy program that could benefit nearly five million Haitians.

Cuban health professionals have been working in Haiti since 1998, but this assistance increased after the devastating earthquake of January 2010 and the cholera epidemic that followed.

In November 2011, President Martelly made his first official visit to Cuba, where he met with his counterpart Raul Castro and with the leader of the Cuban Revolution, Fidel Castro.

Story courtesy of the Cuban News Agency