On the occasion of the completion of two years of work by the Henry Reeve Medical Brigade in Barbados to confront COVID-19, convened by the Senior Minister in charge of Social and Environmental Policies and Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade of Barbados, the Most Honorable Senator Dr. Jerome X. Walcott, a meeting was held at the Foreign Ministry with the Ambassador of Cuba in which the Minister of Health and Welfare, Ian Gooding-Edghill MP, the Minister of State in charge of the Queen Elizabeth Central Hospital, Dr. Sonia Browne MP, the Acting Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ms. Kay Sealy and that of the Ministry of Health and Welfare, Ms. Janet Phillips, the Chief Medical Officer of the Hospital, Dr. Anton Best, the Chief Nursing Officer of the Hospital, Dr. Henderson Pinder, the Director of Human Resources, Ms. Suzan Reeves, and other officials from both ministries in which a review was made of the extraordinary performance of the brigade in the medical care of patients and in the attention of the emerging measures for the control of the pandemic in the country in both, testing, primary care, quarantine, intensive care and recovery services as part of the country's efforts in the face of the declared emergency for the pandemic. Since their arrival on Barbadian soil on April 5, 2020 and their entry into service on April 19, this contingent of aid workers whose vanguard is also made up of the core of 104 nurses, 6 medical doctors and 3 laboratory technicians. , all women, who together with 21 men in those same three branches have developed their medical assistance work for more than two years.
The meeting also discussed ways and programs to continue medical cooperation between the two countries and set up a process to define the best prospects for cooperation in these disciplines. The meeting concluded with the approach to decisions during this month to inform the authorities of both countries about the next steps in this cooperation. The Ambassador of Cuba thanked the Barbadian authorities for the support and attention given to the Cuban aid workers and contributed Cuba's decision to continue accompanying its Barbadian counterparts in this activity.