87 Cuban Doctors to Zambia in February 

Lusaka, Jan 01, 2003 (The Post/All Africa Global Media via COMTEX) --

Eighty-seven Cuban doctors are expected to arrive in the country by
February this year, disclosed Cuban embassy charge de affairs Carmelina
Rodriguez yesterday.

Rodriguez said the long awaited doctors would finally be in the country as
the Cuban and Zambian governments had now finalised everything. She said
the Zambian government had committed itself to meeting the conditions
required for the Cuban doctors to work in Zambia. "The Zambian government
also agreed to pay for the air tickets for them to come," Rodriguez said.

She said Zambian officials had in July last year been to Cuba for the
recruitment of the 87 doctors. Meanwhile, Rodriguez said Cubans had
achieved a lot in the last 44 years amid relentless subversive and
aggressive actions against it since the triumph of the revolution in 1959.
In a message to celebrate Cuba's 44th anniversary of the triumph of
revolution which falls today, Rodriguez observed that a rigorous and
merciless economic blockade had been imposed on Cuba for a long time now.
She said there have been attempts to impose political, technical, and
scientific isolation on Cuba.

"These conditions have lasted for more than four decades and continue to
persist today," Rodriguez said. "But the difficulties have served us not to
complain, but to get up on the difficulties, to look for solutions to the
problems." She said in spite of the setbacks emanating from the economic
blockade imposed by the United States and natural disasters in 2002, Cuba
has continued advancing and developing important programs of economic
development and social justice. Rodriguez said the economy grew modestly in
2002.

She said, however, that Cuba's sugar industry in the year suffered a
setback of 70 sugar mills. She said the entertainment and tourism
industries were playing an important role in the economic development.
Rodriguez said in spite of the negative effects that the tourism sector
faced after September 11, 2001, the sector has experienced a modest growth
of 3.8 per cent. Rodriguez said Cuba was also developing the pharmaceutical
industry and the biotechnology products. She said the large number of
scientists working in the country's hundreds of research centres was
testimony to the progresses achieved in the field of health.

"They have obtained advances in the researches to obtain a vaccine against
the AIDS, and against certain of cancerous tumours," she said. She said
infant mortality has remained below eight children per 1,000 births while
life expectancy was at 75 years. "We have eradicated numerous epidemic and
endemic illnesses such as poliomyelitis, diphtheria, measles, among
others," Rodriguez said. Rodriguez said the educational sector achievements
were also remarkable.

"Today the total number of students in educational institutions including
primary school, junior high school, senior high school, special education
is 2,623,300, and the number of students in the universities is already
201,257, the number of educational centres 31,343," she said. "Besides
that, this past year thousands of schools were repaired. We even started
the recovery of health institutions, thousands of housings affected by the
two hurricanes were reconstructed."

by Webster Malido

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