A batch of 68 doctors, who finished training recently in Cuba, will be deployed into Jamaica’s health sector starting tomorow.

The doctors, all Jamaicans, represent the latest and largest batch of medical graduates to have been trained in the Socialist Republic since the Cuba/Jamaica Bilateral Programme began over 30 years ago.

The doctors, who graduated from the University of Santiago de Cuba’s medical faculty in July, will be deployed to hospitals across the island, with the bulk of them assigned to the Kingston Public Hospital and the Cornwall Regional Hospital, as well as the Spanish Town Hospital, May Pen Hospital, Mandeville General Hospital, St Ann’s Bay Hospital, Savanna-la-Mar Hospital, and Annotto Bay Hospital.

Graduate Heron Grant is anxiously awaiting the day when he will be able to give back to residents in his community in Byndloss, Linstead, St Catherine, by offering affordable and quality care to children.

The 27-year-old doctor said he also plans to positively impact the locals there, so “as soon as I am able I would like to see how I can serve my community in paediatrics and make it as affordable as possible”.

Grant and his collegues spent seven years at the university.

The newly trained doctors were officially welcomed and congratulated by Health Minister Fenton Ferguson and outgoing Cuban Ambassador Yuri Gala Lopez during a reception hosted by the ministry of health at its office in downtown Kingston on Thursday.

Minister Ferguson, who abandoned his speech and instead opted to have a conversation with the doctors, urged them to display the skills that they had learned and to add value to the current work of the local doctors.

The minister also implored the doctors to recognise that their position comes with tremendous responsibility and urged them to serve with humility.

“I know that many of you want to wear that doctor (title) on your forehead but that’s not it, that is just like a person who walks around and boasts that he is a Christian and Christianity must be manifested,” he said.

“Being a good doctor should be manifested by your compassion, how you see your patients, how serious you take your oath. It’s not about how quickly you’re going to drive the Mercedes Benz or live in Cherry Gardens or Beverly Hills,” Ferguson stated.

He advised the doctors that once they are steadfast and have a sense of mission and fixity of purpose, all the material things that they desire will be achieved.

“Becoming a doctor is a great achievement, but becoming a servant of the people is a greater achievement,” said the minister, who also expressed gratitude to the Cuban Government.

Ambassador Gala Lopez for his part said that Cuba is committed to continue assisting Jamaica.

Over 200 Jamaican students are currently studying in Cuban universities as a result of the programme, Gala Lopez said.

The ambassador said that although the current economic condition had impacted the programme, it will not be discontinued, as four students left the island in July to study medicine.

“For Cuba, it is not just giving others what we have to spare, but moderately sharing with them the little resources that we have,” he said.

Chief medical officer in the health ministry, Dr Michael Coombs, told the doctors that they were joining the health system at a critical time, but urged them to call on God for guidance and strength when the job becomes too much for them to bear.

Dr Matthew Lloyd O’Connor expressed gratitude to the Cuban and Jamaican government which made their studies possible.

“The group is determined to revolutionise medicine in Jamaica and in the Caribbean. We have decided to turn our backs on the commonplace and the ordinary and drastically improve health care across the 14 parishes of the island,” Dr O’Connor said.