NASSAU, Bahamas (CMC)— Bahamian health minister Dr Michael Darville has defended the presence of Cuban health workers in the Bahamas, saying that losing them would be a blow to the optometry programme that is helping hundreds of Bahamians with critical eye issues.

Nassau has become the latest Caribbean Community (CARICOM) to defend the Cuban health brigade system that has come under criticism from the United States, with Washington indicating that it was a form of human trafficking.

“That’s a difficult question. I can say this much. The services they provide in the country [are] needed, and so the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is presently back and forth with their counterparts in the United States,” Darville said,⁹ as he responded to questions as to whether there is any plan to end the programme here in light of Washington’s accusations.

He said that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is seeking “more clarity on what we are doing with these workers because it seems as if there is this cloud that [there] is forced labour, and we don’t believe so, but ultimately, the negotiations are ongoing with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

“But the services that are being provided in the country are absolutely necessary, and if we were to lose them, we would have to get other foreign individuals in the country to help provide the services until some of our doctors who are doing post-graduate training abroad return home and the program could be 100 per cent Bahamian led.”

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced recently that Washington would be expanding an existing Cuba-related visa restriction policy that targets forced labour linked to the Cuban labour export programme.

“This expanded policy applies to current or former Cuban government officials and other individuals, including foreign government officials, who are believed to be responsible for, or involved in, the Cuban labour export programme, particularly Cuba’s overseas medical missions,” said Rubio, who is due to visit the Caribbean this month.

While he did not directly respond to the US policy, Darville said it is an issue the prime minister and Ministry of Foreign Affairs are leading on.

He said there are currently two ophthalmologists, one retina specialist, one cataract specialist, and one optometrist in The Bahamas and that they are a part of a programme in partnership with the Cuban ophthalmology centre where the Bahamas government pays for some Bahamians to travel to Cuba for critically needed eye surgeries.

When they return, they follow up with the Cuban doctors in The Bahamas.

“That’s a part of guaranteeing quality control. Their doctors did the surgery, and so their doctors do the follow-ups,” Darville said, adding that because of the help of the Cuban doctors, significant work has been made in clearing up a COVID-induced backlog.

“We’re going into a programme soon with the Chinese government, who could assist us to even help further with the backlog in cataracts and glaucoma and retina attachments in the country brought on by the complications of chronic non-communicable diseases like diabetes and hypertension, where we have a lot of eye issues as well as cardiovascular issues,” Darville said.

He also said the vast majority of the Cuban nurses who came to The Bahamas to assist during the COVID-19 pandemic have returned home.

“Absolutely. It’s the same salary range as the Bahamian nurses. There’s no difference, and all the labour components that Bahamian nurses get, the Cuban nurses get.

“We are very grateful for the support of Cuban healthcare professionals, and I believe I can see it across the Caribbean; there’s been massive recruitment from the English-speaking Caribbean, and The Bahamas is no exception.

“As I speak, there are private healthcare facilities in North America that are recruiting aggressively in our country, leaving a lot of spaces and gaps. The intensity of the recruitment has left us in a situation that forces us to recruit from abroad,” Darville said.

Last week, Prime Minister Philip Davis brushed aside suggestions that the country was engaged in forced labour.

“Our laws, starting from our constitution, prohibit that kind of engagement. This government does not intend to engage in any forced labour. It’s against our laws, and we are a country of laws.

“But we’ve indicated that we will review. We don’t think that we have done it, and we will review where we are and get back to them in due course,” he said.