Mr. Phil Owen, Director of the Cuban Hospital, Mr. Mohamed Almarri, Executive Director, Professor, Ernesto Lopez, Director of the Cuban Medical Service and Head of the Cuban Medical Brigade, Dr. Angel Mario Felipe, Medical Director of the Cuban Hospital, Compatriots, members of the Cuban Medical Brigade in Qatar. First of all, on behalf of the state mission of Cuba in the State of Qatar, I wish to express our congratulations on the occasion of the Latin American Medicine Day that we have just commemorated and for the organization, once again, of this interesting scientific event. Since assuming my mission as Ambassador of Cuba in the State of Qatar, this is the third edition of the Scientific Meeting that you organize annually and that I have had the privilege of inaugurating, always for this time of the year, which confirms the seriousness and consistency in the efforts made by the management of this hospital to raise every day the quality and efficiency of the services offered by our health professionals. This attitude corresponds to the strategies developed by the Cuban and Qatari authorities, so that our respective peoples receive the best possible medical attention. These efforts in the scientific field, combined with the human, ethical and moral values; inculcated by the Revolution, and especially by our unforgettable Commander in Chief, explain the prestige gained by Cuban medicine, despite the difficulties and vicissitudes arising of the brutal blockade that our people have been suffering for almost 6 decades.
Precisely, as part of that hostile policy, in the campaigns of our adversaries against Cuba, occupy a very prominent place the actions aimed at harming the medical assistance programs to other brotherly peoples, promoting discomfort and defection in the ranks of our professionals and, in general, to attack the prestige of Cuban medicine. What is happening with the "Mais Medicos" program in Brazil is the best example of this.
Our response to these adversities is corresponded with the exemplary attitude that this Medical Brigade has maintained in the State of Qatar. Your constant efforts to raise the professional level and the quality of the medical services that you offer to your patients, the love and humanism that characterize you in the development of your work and the seriousness in the fulfillment of the terms established in each of the Protocols, has made you worthy of the recognition of prestigious international medical institutions, as well as of the growing Qatari and foreign public that receives treatment in this hospital.
For all these reasons, on behalf of our Government, and the whole Cuban people I would like to express to all you, members of this Medical Brigade our most profound gratitude. Likewise, on the eve of the celebration of the National Day of State of Qatar, I seize the opportunity to convey to His Highness Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, Emir of the State of Qatar, to His Highness the Father Emir and to the people of Qatar, our heart felted congratulations and much success in their efforts for the continuous social and economic development of this friendly country in an atmosphere of peace and security.
With these words I declare opened the 8th Annual Scientific Meeting of the Cuban Hospital of Dukhan, wishing you much success.
Thank you
