Prime Minister Phillip J. Pierre has confirmed that the United States has called on St Lucia to stop sending its nationals to Cuba to study medicine, a move he says poses a serious challenge for the island’s already strained health sector.
“I have a big problem. Many of our doctors got trained in Cuba, and now the great United States has said we can’t do that any longer,” Pierre told a weekend meeting of the second World Congress on Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities.
“This is a major problem I have to face,” Pierre said.
The prime minister also raised concerns about the wider implications for cooperation with Cuban medical professionals. “We also have Cubans who come over to work. So the American government has said we can’t even train them in Cuba. So I have a major issue on my hands,” Pierre told the conference.
Pierre said many of St Lucia’s doctors received their medical training in Cuba and that Washington has now taken the position that this long-standing arrangement can no longer continue, increasing pressure on the country’s healthcare system. He attributed the shift to United States geopolitical pressures and urged the diaspora, along with innovative local initiatives, to help the country navigate the emerging challenges.
The issue has been gaining prominence across the region. Last month, the US Embassy in Barbados said the Cuban regime’s “medical missions” programme, which has benefited several Caribbean countries, “relies on coercion and abuse.”
“Cuban medical workers face withheld wages, confiscated passports, forced family separation and exile, restriction of movement through curfews and surveillance, intimidation and threats, and even pressure to falsify medical records and fabricate procedures. Many also endure excessive work hours and unsafe conditions,” the embassy said.
Despite the concerns, the chair of the Congress, Sir Cato Laurencin, an orthopedic surgeon and senior academic based in the United States, said St Lucia is not without alternatives.
“Those of us in the diaspora with St Lucian roots need to work more closely with St Lucia. There are physicians here who want to be part of the new hospital system and support the country’s healthcare development,” Laurencin said, pointing to initiatives linked to the University of Connecticut’s institute as possible models.
Laurencin also highlighted programmes focused on fitness, healthy lifestyles, and local food cultivation, noting that such efforts are becoming increasingly important as Washington has outlined concerns about Cuban medical missions through official diplomatic channels in the Eastern Caribbean.
Pierre also addressed the financial strain facing the health sector, particularly the long-delayed re-opening of the St Jude Hospital in Vieux Fort. He said commissioning the facility is expected to cost about US$50 million, an amount the national budget cannot absorb.
The prime minister said his administration has explored using the Citizenship by Investment Programme (CBI) — which grants citizenship to foreign investors in exchange for substantial contributions to national development — as one option to help bridge the funding gap.
“These disparities, apart from social and economic, must filter down into our health care system. We have tried in St. Lucia to have a school feeding programme where we try to ensure that our kids get at least one nutritious meal a day.
“But sometimes the funders determine that you have to buy certain foods. I have no choice,” he said, urging Caribbean people to rethink lifestyles and long-term approaches as the region confronts mounting health and economic pressures.
