Cuba sends 91 more doctors to fight Ebola
Cuba sends 91 more doctors to fight Ebola
By MICHAEL WEISSENSTEIN, Associated Press | October 21, 2014 | Updated: October 21, 2014 4:14pm
HAVANA (AP) — Every few years Dr. Leonardo Fernandez flies to a nation shaken by natural disaster, political turmoil or disease, leaving his hospital in eastern Cuba for countries that have included Pakistan, Nicaragua and East Timor.
On Tuesday, the intensive care specialist was headed to the epicenter of the Ebola epidemic along with 90 other Cuban medical workers as part of a half-century-old strategy that puts doctors on the front lines of the country's foreign policy.
The 91 nurses and doctors going to Guinea and Liberia join 165 already in Sierra Leone — making this island of 11 million people one of the largest global contributors of medical workers to the fight against Ebola.
The commitment has drawn rare praise from the U.S. and focused worldwide attention on Cuba's unique program of medical diplomacy, which deploys armies of doctors to win friends abroad and earn more than $6 billion a year in desperately needed foreign exchange.
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