Guyana is set to deliver training in rehabilitative medicine to medical personnel from within the region via a co-operation agreement that will see Cuba providing five specialists to the programme.
At a technical meeting held on Wednesday at the Ministry of Health, Minister Dr Bheri Ramsaran said the initiative is being undertaken via a Cooperation and Technical Assistance Agreement among the Caricom Secretariat, Ministry of Education of the Republic of Cuba and the Guyana Health Ministry.
The venture involves setting up a Development Stimulating Centre for children, adolescents and youth with special educational needs associated with disabilities.
A major component of the project will entail Cuba sending five specialists to work in the Centre to train the participants who will have the option of moving on to a tertiary level course in the programme, a report from the Government Information Agency (GINA) said.
The project was initiated at a December 2009 Cuba/Caricom meeting, where Cuba offered to provide further technical assistance in the health field. Cuba has offered its skills, expertise and competence to the Caricom Heads of States, with Guyana chosen to be the state for implementation.
According to GINA, the Cuba/Caricom Training Centre for Disabilities will be located in the West Demerara Regional Hospital, which will be rehabilitated to facilitate the training. Cuba will provide full technical support and pay emoluments to the specialists that will be stationed there.
The project, piloted by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs with the Health Ministry as the lead agency for rehabilitative medicine, has had several interactions with Cuban teams which are guided Cuban Ambassador to Guyana, Julio Gonzalez Marchante. The ambassador noted that work on the project has been ongoing for about three years. He also noted that dealing with disability particularly in the community, and establishing a centre will be important in the area of education.
Marchante also pointed out that while the programme is expected to begin in September, there were several documents on the agenda for discussion at the meeting.
The first establishes the responsibilities of Caricom and Cuba, giving the abilities and support for technical assistance; another dealt with the location for the programme and yet another addressed Guyana’s establishing of the centre itself.
