The Jamaican nurse who told off the health minister for calling home nurses to work in inferior conditions has shared her experience working closely with counterparts who came as part of the Cuban medical programme that has just been upended.

Describing the Cuban programme as “a double-edged sword”, United States-based Dr Cheryl Morgan said she was working in Jamaica when the first set of Cuban nurses arrived, noting that many of them were “ripped from their families” and “sent here against their will”.

“It was common knowledge amongst the people in the health-care industry, especially those who worked alongside the Cubans, that they were selected and sent to Jamaica against their will,” said Dr Morgan.

“Some of them expressed how they were ripped away from their families and cried for many months while in Jamaica after missing their wives or husbands. Once they landed in Jamaica, their travel documents were confiscated by one of the leaders in their group who was also a nurse.”

Morgan said it was also common knowledge that one of their peers was a spy amongst them, “but they all view each other as the spy because they had no idea who it was… The spy would report back to Cuba and any nurse who acted out of character was reported and sent back and faced punishment”.

Morgan, a highly qualified nurse who left for greener pastures in the United States nearly two decades ago, recently stirred controversy when she spurned calls from Health and Wellness Minister Dr Christopher Tufton, for Jamaican nurses to come home to help deal with a crisis in the health sector.

After graduating as a registered nurse from the University of the West Indies (UWI) in St Andrew, she went on to excel in her chosen profession, pursuing doctoral studies and becoming an author and businesswoman.

Dr Morgan spoke about the positive and negative sides of the Cuban medical programme, based on her own observations and what she said nurses from the Spanish-speaking island had told her.

She said it was well known that the Cubans were paid higher salaries than the Jamaican nurses and were remunerated in US dollars. The salary was not paid directly to the nurses but was sent to Cuba and then a small percentage released to the nurses. As a result, they worked sessions (overtime) “under the table”.

“The Jamaican Government assured US Secretary of State Marco Rubio that they followed the labour laws in employing and paying the Cuban doctors. If the agreement between Jamaica and Cuba in hiring these doctors was the same as they had with the nurses, the labour law was breached.

“Hiring foreign workers and holding onto their travel documents falls under human trafficking and a breach in the labour laws. However, the Jamaican Government did not take those documents.

“While the Jamaican Government explicitly stated that these practices were just revealed to them, the Jamaican people are not naive to believe this. It should not have taken the Government 50 years to discover these irregularities.”

Morgan accused America of making an indirect attack on Jamaica and other Caribbean islands “to create a chain reaction to take down the Cuban empire. The professionals of Cuba are the country’s greatest asset and how that country builds its economy”.

She argued that the medical programme came to a swift end shortly after criticism of the Jamaican prime minister by a US senator for his support of Cuba, and that “the Andrew Holness Government washed their hands clean saying there was a breach in labour laws and citing unawareness of that breach, as the reason”.

“The flip side to this saga is the reality that Prime Minister Holness was given basket to carry water. It is not a JLP thing since both parties are guilty of the labour practices over 50 years. He just happens to be the prime minister when the bucket bottom fell out.

“Jamaica has found herself between a rock and a hard place. This makes Marco Rubio the smartest Cuban in the American Government. While many dislike the steps that he has taken, no one has ever stopped to think that he hailed from a country that exploited their professionals for decades and he is using his power to change that narrative.

“It is like me trying to bring change to the health-care system in Jamaica,” she said recalling that she was not against nurses coming home to work, as some accused her. “The solution is to fix the problem in the health sector, not to be calling home nurses to give up better salaries and working conditions in the US.”

She said many of the Cuban health-care workers did not return home, instead they married Jamaicans, earned Jamaican citizenship and worked in the private sector. They are still active nurses and doctors because of the qualifying exams to practise in the Caribbean Community (Caricom) region.

“The Cuban doctors, just like the nurses, have experienced freedom and I am 100 per cent sure they do not want to return to Cuba. A taste of freedom is enough to jump ship. The quality of life they enjoy now is the same life the Jamaican nurses who migrated to reside overseas have now…

“The solution to the problem is a very difficult one. It is also painful because Jamaicans love our Cuban brothers and sisters. Cuba is our closest neighbour and had a long-standing relationship with Jamaica for decades.

“They built three schools in Jamaica — Jose Marti Technical High School, Garvey Maceo High School and GC Foster College — back in the 70s and has supported Jamaica many times, even in the pandemic.”

Dr Morgan said people asked how can Jamaica turn her back on Cuba, responding that Jamaica could because the relationship between Jamaica and the US was more valuable than that between the two Caribbean islands.

“If Jamaica goes against America, the situation can get very ugly. As much as Jamaica falls under the British, America has been so valuable, that it will be suicide of the nation to say ‘no’. Just remember those American military Chinook Helicopters that were so effective in Hurricane Melissa.

“I am sure that Prime Minister Holness thought of what happened to former Prime Minister Michael Manley and his relationship with Cuba and President Fidel Castro. The people who were alive in the 70s can attest to the level of poverty and difficulties they experienced when Manley stood firm and disobeyed America. That didn’t end well for us.

“The Jamaican Government has to make some diplomatic decisions which will not satisfy popular opinions. The best solution for Jamaica with her current health-care crisis is to sever relationship with Cuba and hire the 277 doctors. This is the most logical, if unethical, decision to make. That is why I would never want to be prime minister.

“The option is to release the doctors and lose a large percentage of an already burdensome health-care system.

“Cuba technically doesn’t need those doctors to staff their hospitals, they want money in return for services. Jamaica could strike a deal with Cuba and pay them for these doctors.

“But as the news said, both countries failed to reach an agreement. As Matlock on this case, my suspicion is that this is the agreement they both couldn’t reach. How much did Cuba demand for the doctors and how much can the Jamaican Government afford?”

Late Prime Minisrter Michael Manley had a strong friendship with Cuba and its President Fidel Castro (J. SCOTT APPLEWHITE)

Cuban President Fidel Castro under whose Government the Cuban Medical Programme began

Dr Cheryl Morgan