Cuba sends 'white shirt army' to help Italy fight Covid-19

Cuban doctors pose for a photo with a portrait of President Fidel Castro during a farewell ceremony before leaving to help Italy fight Covid-19. Photo: Reuters

Since its 1959 revolution, the Caribbean island nation has repeatedly sent “white coats” to disaster sites around the world, mainly in poor countries. Cuban doctors were on the front lines in the fight against cholera in Haiti and Ebola in West Africa in the 2010s.

However, with a powerful delegation of 52 doctors and nurses, this is the first time Cuba has sent an emergency response team to Italy, one of the richest countries in the world, demonstrating the level of this country's medical diplomacy.

This is the sixth medical mission Cuba has sent in recent days to combat the spread of the new disease abroad. Previously, the country sent delegations to socialist allies Venezuela and Nicaragua, as well as Jamaica, Suriname and Grenada.

“We are all worried, but we have a revolutionary duty to fulfill, so we put our fears aside,” Leonardo Fernandez, 68, an intensive care specialist, said before departing on March 21. “Anyone who says they are not afraid is a superhero, but we are not, we are revolutionary doctors.”

Fernandez said this was his eighth international mission, including a tour in Liberia in the fight against Ebola.

Italy is the country hardest hit by the highly contagious virus strain that first emerged in China, and the northern region of Lombardy is bearing the brunt of the outbreak.

The number of people who died from Covid-19 in Italy on March 21 increased by 546 to 3,095, according to Giulio Gallera, the head of the country's welfare agency, who asked for help from Cuban doctors and nurses.

“We are about to undertake an honorable mission, based on the principles of solidarity and unity,” said Graciliano Díaz, 64.

Cuba has built one of the best health care systems in the developing world, thanks in part to economic aid from its former ally the Soviet Union. Today, many hospitals are falling into disrepair, and Cubans say they have trouble finding medicine. The Cuban government blames this largely on decades of U.S. sanctions.

Still, Cuba has one of the highest numbers of doctors per capita in the world, even without counting those abroad, and its medical missions to help with disaster relief continue to earn Havana goodwill around the world.

“In a time of crisis, the Cuban government and the Cuban people have listened and responded to our call,” Jamaican Health Minister Christopher Tufton said on March 22 as he welcomed 140 Cuban medical professionals at Kingston International Airport.

Britain also thanked Cuba last week for allowing a British cruise ship that had been turned away by several Caribbean ports to dock on the island nation and facilitating the evacuation of more than 600 passengers on board.

Meanwhile, Cuba, a country known for its disaster preparedness, is stepping up domestic measures to contain the spread of the coronavirus. So far, the country has confirmed 25 cases of Covid-19.

President Miguel Diaz-Canel announced on the night of March 20 that the country would close its borders to non-resident foreigners starting March 24. Thousands of doctors and medical students are also conducting door-to-door surveillance in local communities.