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Cuban scientists, professionals to help SA
PRETORIA March 30 2001 Sapa.
A number of Cuban scientists and professionals will come to South Africa on
unknown dates to assist with development, the African National Congress said on
Friday.
Among the visitors would be mathematics and science teachers, and veterinary
scientists, President Thabo Mbeki wrote in the ruling party's online journal -
ANC Today.
He made the announcement following his state visit to Havana this week.
Mbeki returned to Pretoria on Thursday.
"On many occasions, the citizens of this island state ... openly
expressed their willingness to come to South Africa to work with us to realise
our goals," Mbeki wrote.
"Even children spoke of their intention to become teachers and doctors
so that they could carry out their international duties."
He said Cuba had also offered to waive its intellectual property rights on
drugs and medicines it had developed to help South Africa provide cheaper
medicine to its citizens.
Cuba would co-operate with South Africa in their production.
There are 463 Cuban doctors working in public hospitals in South Africa,
many in rural areas. Forty-seven of them are lecturers. They will assist in
medical schools and teaching at hospitals. Cuba granted 185 South African youths
scholarships to study medicine in that country.
The two countries would also co-operate in the field of biotechnology to
increase the capacity of South Africa to conduct research in this area, Mbeki
said.
Cuba agreed to assist South Africa in the field of animal and plant health
and productivity so that the country could address the question of malnutrition.
"She (Cuba) is ready to send some teams of veterinary scientists to
help us further improve the health of our animal stock, including in the former
homeland areas," said Mbeki.
"This is ... timely in the light of the recent outbreak of various
animal diseases globally, including madcow, foot-and-mouth and anthrax."
During the visit, a South African delegation agreed with their Cuban
counterparts on measures to improve the level of education in South Africa.
"We will be receiving Cuban teachers in mathematics and science to help
us in our schools," said Mbeki.
"These will be followed by teacher trainers in these subjects, once
again to build up our own domestic capacity to improve the performance of our
student youth in these critical areas.
"We will also work together to draw on Cuba's experience with regard to
the use of radio and television in the field of education, including the area of
basic literacy."
Mbeki praised Cubans for their contribution in the fight against apartheid
and their continuous willingness to assist the country improve the quality of
living of its citizens.
"As we left Cuba, we had come to understand that the Cuban people are
driven by a genuine and passionate humanism. They do not hesitate to share what
they have with those who are in want.
"They wish to be part of a world of freedom, peace, prosperity and
friendship among the peoples, and are determined to make their contribution to
the achievement of these goals."
President Thabo Mbeki praises Cuba's selfless contribution to African
development
30 march 2001. Issued by: African National Congress
A genuine and passionate humanism lay behind Cuba's ongoing contribution to
development in Africa, ANC President Thabo Mbeki said following his state visit
to Cuba this week.
Writing in the ANC's online journal ANC Today, President Mbeki recalled the
sacrifices the people of Cuba made in the liberation of Southern Africa and
describes the many areas in which they continue to assist South Africa and the
continent.
Mbeki said the friendship and solidarity which motivated Cuba's selfless
contribution to liberation struggles in Southern Africa helped to explain the
great willingness of the Cuban people to help in the struggle to eradicate the
apartheid legacy and achieve the objective of a better life for all.
"On many occasions, the citizens of this island state, including
scientists and other professionals, such as teachers, openly expressed their
willingness to come to South Africa to work with us to realise our goals. Even
children spoke of their intention to become teachers and doctors so that they
could carry out their international duties," Mbeki said.
South Africa has 463 Cuban doctors working in its public hospitals,
especially those in rural areas. Forty-seven of these are lecturers and are
therefore able to assist both in medical schools and teaching hospitals. Cuba
has granted scholarships to 185 of our young people who are currently studying
in Cuba to become medical doctors.
Cuba has offered to waive its intellectual property rights over drugs and
medicines it has developed and cooperate with South Africa in their production.
This is so South Africa can provide affordable medicines to poor people. In
addition to this, Cuba has agreed to work with us in the important scientific
area of biotechnology to increase our research capacity in this area.
"She has also agreed to share with us the important work she has done
in the area of animal and plant health and productivity, so that we are better
able to address the question of better nutrition and therefore better health for
our people. Immediately, she is ready to send some tens of veterinary scientists
to help us further improve the health of our animal stock, including in the
former homeland areas. This is especially timely in the light of the recent
outbreak of various animal diseases globally, including mad-cow, foot-and-mouth
and anthrax diseases," Mbeki said.
He said Cuba was in agreement with South Africa about the critical
importance of human resource development:
"In part, this derives from her own reality and experience of
development. Among other things, the country is not as well endowed with natural
resources as we are, and, has had to depend greatly on the skill of her own
people to achieve the outstanding results she has with regard to such areas as
health and education. "
The Cuban leadership engaged the delegation in intense discussions about
measures to raise the level of education of South Africa's people and improve
the quality of that education.
"Accordingly, we will be receiving Cuban teachers in mathematics and
science to help us in our schools. These will be followed by teacher trainers in
these subjects, once again to build up our own domestic capacity to improve the
performance of our student youth in these critical areas. We will also work
together to draw on Cuba's experience with regard to the use of radio and
television in the field of education, including the area of basic literacy,"
Mbeki said.
President Mbeki joined Fidel Castro and ANC Secretary General, Kgalema
Motlanthe at the African Memorial Park in Miramar, Havana, where they unveiled a
bust of the late ANC President Oliver Tambo. Tambo's bust was the second to be
unveiled following that of the first President of Angola, Agostinho Neto. Other
busts that will be placed at the park include those of Abdel Gamal Nasser of
Egypt, Modibo Keita of Mali, Kwame Nkrumah of Ghana, Patrice Lumumba of Congo,
Julius Nyerere of Tanzania and Eduardo Mondlane and Samora Machel of Mozambique.
"It felt strange and embarrassing that, seven years after our own
liberation, we, an African country, did not have a single memorial to pay
tribute to these and other outstanding African patriots," Mbeki said.
"As we left Cuba, we had come to understand that the Cuban people are
driven by a genuine and passionate humanism. They are proud of their rich and
long history of struggle to attain their own freedom and social progress.
"They do not hesitate to share what they have with those who are in
want. They wish to be part of a world of freedom, peace, prosperity and
friendship among the peoples, and are determined to make their contribution to
the achievement of these goals," Mbeki said.
The full text of President Mbeki's letter is available on the weekly online
journal ANC Today at www.anc.org.za.
Issued by: African National Congress PO Box 61884, Marshalltown 2107 30
March 2001 More information contact: Donovan Cloete on (011) 376 8318 or 082 574
0659
Don't make only AID's drugs cheaper: Manto
PRETORIA March 30 2001 Sapa
Pharmaceutical companies were trying to corner the government into accepting
the reduction in costs of only Aids drugs, Health Minister Dr Manto
Tshabalala-Msimang said on Friday.
"We won't be moved," she told reporters in Pretoria after signing
a co-operation
agreement with her Cuban counterpart, Dr Carlos Dotres-Martinez.
The agreement was in part aimed at improving the exchange of medical
technology between the two countries, Tshabalala-Msimang said.
"We know that Cuba has made much progress in this field, especially in
developing expertise in the area of pharmaceuticals. We will be exploring this
area with an aim of finding a suitable path to accessing affordable medicines
for South Africa," she said.
Last week, Cuban president Fidel Castro announced that his country had
developed world-class Aids drugs and wanted to help South Africa and Brazil
circumvent patent laws to produce cheaper, generic drugs for Aids sufferers in
their countries.
"We will fully support Brazil and South Africa, encouraging them to
ignore US patents and produce the drugs to save the millions of lives that can
be saved," he said.
During President Thabo Mbeki's state visit to Cuba this week, he and Castro
signed a number of agreements, including one which could clear the way for the
two countries to co-operate in producing low-cost Aids drugs while ignoring drug
company patents.
On April 18, the Pretoria High Court battle is to resume in which 39
pharmaceutical companies, both local and international, challenge South Africa's
Medicines and Related Substances Control Amendment Act, claiming it includes
provisions allowing for their patent rights to be eroded.
The government, however, contends that the provisions aim to make drugs
accessible and affordable for all South Africans, and are justified.
Health ministers from the Non-Aligned Movement who met in Johannesburg this
week, agreed to support the South African government in its legal fight, and to
recognise the right of poor countries to have access to cheaper Aids drugs.
Various pharmaceutical companies have made offers of cheaper Aids drugs for
developing countries.
On Tuesday, United States-based Abbott Laboratories announced it would offer
two types anti-retroviral drugs at cost in Africa.
But Tshabalala-Msimang said it was not enough to slash the prices of Aids
drugs alone.
She said there had been a tendency to reduce the Medicines and Related
Substances Control Amendment Act to a single issue of anti-retroviral drugs. The
Act was a crucial instrument for achieving the overall objectives of her
government's national drug policy.
"Our goal is to ensure an adequate and reliable supply of safe,
cost-effective drugs of acceptable quality to all South Africans and for all the
diseases that continue to pose major health challenges to our country..."
Dotres-Martinez said Cuba was willing to use its own resources to help South
Africa obtain all the drugs it needed at a low price and high quality.
The agreement signed by the two ministers would also combine and formalise
two existing agreements between the two countries on the recruitment of doctors,
the training of medical students and an exchange training programme for medical
researchers and specialists, Tshabalala-Msimang said.
SA drs studying in Cuba should be exempt from entrance exams: Manto
PRETORIA March 30 2001 Sapa
South African medical students studying in Cuba would be subject to double
discrimination if they had to write entrance examinations here, like other
doctors who had qualified abroad, Health Minister Dr Manto Tshabalala-Msimang
said on Friday.
Her department had taken up the matter with the Health Professions Council
of South Africa, she said.
She and her Cuban counterpart, Dr Carlos Dotres-Martinez, addressed
reporters in Pretoria at the signing of an agreement to combine and formalise
two existing agreements between the two countries on the recruitment of doctors,
the training of medical students and an exchange training programme for medical
researchers and specialists.
It is also aimed at improving the exchange of medical technology between the
two countries.
Tshabalala-Msimang said she and Dotres-Martinez had discussed difficulties
encountered by South African medical students studying in Cuba.
All doctors with foreign qualifications have to pass examinations in South
Africa before they could register.
However, it would be unfair to apply this requirement to the South Africans
qualifying in Cuba.
These students came from disadvantaged backgrounds and did not have the
resources to pay for their own studies locally.
That was why they were taken up in the programme to study in Cuba,
Tshabalala-Msimang said.
She had studied in Leningrad, and like other exiles, had contended upon
their return that they should not have to write the examinations because they
did not study abroad by choice. They succeeded.
Similarly, the medical students currently studying in Cuba had been forced
to do so by the legacy of apartheid.
About 200 South Africans are studying at Cuban medical schools and about 450
Cuban doctors have been recruited to work in the South African public health
sector.
These doctors made a major contribution in South Africa's efforts to provide
access to affordable, quality health care, particularly in rural areas,
Tshabalala-Msimang said.
"There has been improvement in the quality of treatment in almost every
hospital where we have deployed Cuban doctors..."
She said the patients received more than medical care from these doctors,
who addressed the needs of the patient as a whole.
Dotres-Martinez said he had met about 200 of the doctors in hospitals in
three provinces, and had been impressed with the "love and dedication"
with which they were associated. |