Cuban VP visits hospital, foreign affairs department |16 February 2018

On official visit to Seychelles since Wednesday, the Vice-President (VP) of the State Council of the Republic of Cuba, Mercedes López Acea and her delegation yesterday visited the Seychelles Hospital and the department of foreign affairs.

VP Acea and her delegation, who also comprised the deputy Minister External Relations, Ana Teresita González Fraga and the Cuban ambassador to Seychelles Juan Marcia Pino, were met and welcomed by the Minister for Health Jean-Paul Adam, who introduced them to the principal secretary for health, Dr Bernard Valentin; the chief executive of the Health Care Agency, Dr Danny Louange; the World Health Organisation (WHO) liaison officer, Teniin Gakuruh; the head of the Cuban Cooperation in Seychelles, Magdiel Rodriguez Labrada and other high senior health officials.

After the introductions, Minister Adam led the Cuban delegation on a tour of the Seychelles Hospital where they visited firstly the pediatric ward then the surgical D’Offay ward, the Hemodialysis Unit and the Oncology Unit.

Along the way to the various medical units, Minister Adam with the help of other health staff gave the Cuban delegation an overview of the history of the Seychelles Hospital and the functions of the different units as well as on the health system in Seychelles, its achievements and challenges.

VP Acea also interacted with patients, imparting words of comfort and good health to them.

She congratulated the staff on their noble work and encouraged them to continue with perseverance to provide the good, caring and loving service which she said can be difficult at times.    

After the visit, VP Acea thanked the Cuban medical health professionals for the good feedback she had received from the Seychelles government regarding their work at the Ministry of Health which she said “makes us all Cubans very proud”. She wished them good health and success in their work.

There are 55 Cuban medical professionals working with the Ministry of Health and they are providing services all over Mahé, Praslin and La Digue.

From the Seychelles Hospital, the Cuban delegation went to the department of foreign affairs where they were met by the secretary of state for foreign affairs, Ambassador Barry Faure, who was accompanied by Ambassador Selby Pillay and other senior staff of the department.

Ambassador Faure led VP Acea and her delegation on a tour of the building where he gave them an overview of the history of foreign affairs, the different high profile personals who headed the department and also introduced them to other staff of the department.

Later both delegations met in the conference room for cordial talks.

Since establishing relations in April 12, 1978, Seychelles and Cuba have bilateral agreements and have maintained close cooperation in education, environment, sports, cultural, economic as well as in other social spheres.

Health is one of the main areas of cooperation between the two states which has seen the largest influx of Cuban medical health professionals working in the sector.

President Danny Faure opened the first Seychelles resident embassy in Cuba in April last year, during a state visit.

Interacting with patients at the hospital