J’can med students not on their own in Cuba, insists ambassador
JAMAICA’S AMBASSADOR to Cuba has said that consistent efforts are being made through the embassy to ensure the well-being of the medical students and other Jamaicans in Cuba
Yesterday The Gleaner reported that a number of Jamaican students in Cuba were expressing a desire to return home, claiming that food shortages, xenophobia, and limited sanitisation products continue to threaten their mental and physical health. They said that the COVID-19 pandemic has further compounded the shortages.
Jamaica closed its borders to incoming passenger traffic on March 24 to curb the spread of the new coronavirus. Ports will remain closed until May 31, except for Cabinet-approved exemptions.
On Sunday, several attempts by The Gleaner to reach Ambassador Kathryn Phipps failed after our initial call was dropped early in the interview.
Yesterday the ambassador told The Gleaner that the Jamaican students are not being neglected.
“We have responded to every student and parent who have contacted the embassy … ,” she said. “If anybody is giving the impression that they have been reaching out to the embassy and they are not getting a response, it is just not accurate.”
BROUGHT FOOD TO STUDENTS
Phipps said that she has personally brought food to students in Havana and is working with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on other means to get food and sanitation supplies to students, including getting a food shipment from Suriname.
“Two students contacted me and said they had no food. I went and got food and took it to them,” Phipps said. “We then started a list with the students who said they had no food and that list was sent to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, who, I am sure, will confirm and have been working on the controlled re-entry of Jamaicans all over.”
“Two students made a report to the embassy that there were starving. They rented a place off campus. We got in touch with their school and told them these students are having a challenge. They (school) said, ‘Yes, tell them to come on campus. We will give them accommodation and food’. When we contacted the students, they said they were fine. I told them the school said they could come back on. They said no, Cuban food makes them sick,” Phipps added.
Phipps said that of the more than 100 Jamaican medical students in Cuba – more than 70 of whom are personally funding their studies and the others on scholarships – more than 50 have expressed a desire to return home. She added that plans were afoot to have some returned to the island.
“… We at the embassy got in touch with the Cuban airline, made enquiries through the Ministry of Tourism and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs about chartering a 42-seater plane. I asked our student officer to find out if there was any student who wanted to go home … . We got a list and submitted it to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs which has been working on the protocols to do that,” the ambassador said.
The ambassador is advising persons wishing to make contact to reach her at ambassadorembjmcub@gmail.com.
Up to yesterday, Cuba had recorded 1,386 coronavirus cases and 56 deaths.