Nauru wary of Cuban doctor plans for Pacific

Tuesday, 26 September 2006, 3:05 am
Press Release: Radio New Zealand International

Nauru wary of Cuban doctor plans for Pacific

Nauru’s minister of health says recruiting medical staff in the region is an increasing problem.

Kiribati recently recruited doctors from Cuba, and Papua New Guinea’s minister of health is also considering hiring doctors from there.

But Dr Kieren Keke says several years ago, eleven Cuban doctors were on Nauru for 18 months, before Nauru terminated their contracts early.

He says Nauru’s been struggling to recruit doctors ever since.

He says Nauru advises pacific countries to be very involved in the selection of the Cuban doctors, ensure they are team players and that they have a high level of English and communication skills.

“Those were some key things, and being very explicit with government to government arrangement about the standard of expectations and exactly what each government expects of each other and this was lacking in the arrangements set up by our former government and the Cuban government which led to misunderstanding and discontent on both sides.”

Nauru’s minister of health, Dr Kieren Keke

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