The work of the Cuban Medical Brigade in the southern Italian region of Calabria was recognized during the conference "For Public Well-being and Health: A Concept of Service to the Citizen," held in the capital.
The event, which took place on Thursday at the regional headquarters of the Italian General Confederation of Labour (CGIL), was attended by the Cuban ambassador to Italy, Mirta Granda, as well as Andrea Filippi, a leader of that trade union organization, and Marco Papacci, president of the National Italy-Cuba Friendship Association (ANAIC).
AMBASSADOR CITES AGREEMENT AND SOLIDARITY PRINCIPLES
Ambassador Granda referenced the agreement signed in July 2022 between the Calabria region and Cuban Medical Services (CSMC) to address severe healthcare shortages in that Italian region. She asserted that her country's physicians are its best ambassadors worldwide.
This Cuban solidarity work in Italy, in the field of health, continues the assistance provided in 2020 by brigades of the Henry Reeve Medical Contingent in the northern cities of Crema and Turin, during the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic.
Granda pointed out that since the triumph of the Cuban Revolution in 1959, free healthcare for the population and aid to other nations have been priorities, despite the difficult situation facing the Island, a victim of the United States' economic, commercial, and financial blockade.
The diplomat added that the work of Cuban doctors and their international collaboration is carried out respecting the principles of altruism, humanism, and international solidarity, enshrined in Article 16 of her country's Constitution.
MEDICAL REPRESENTATIVE DETAILS SCOPE AND IMPACT
Doctor Andrés Gamboa, who attended the conference representing the Cuban health professionals collaborating in Calabria, discussed the positive results of their work in 27 hospitals across the provinces of Catanzaro, Cosenza, Crotone, Reggio Calabria, and Vibo Valentia.
Gamboa stated that the Calabrian population respects and is grateful for the services provided by the more than 350 Cuban doctors across 23 specialties, who are present primarily in the places where they are most needed.
The first 51 specialists arrived in Calabria in December 2022, with an additional 120 arriving in August of the following year. A further 106 joined at the beginning of 2024, followed by 66 in October, and finally 48 who arrived in early May 2025.
ITALIAN OFFICIALS PRAISE CUBAN MODEL
Also present at the event were, among others, Pino Scarpelli, a member of the ANAIC national secretariat, Enzo Pescatori, a member of that organization and of the MediCuba Europe Association, and Italian parliamentarian Andrea Quartini of the Five Star Movement (M5S).
In his remarks, ANAIC President Marco Papacci stated that the Cuban health system "is based on a universalist and community-focused approach" and constitutes an experience that should be assimilated because, despite its complexities, "it has placed the idea of medical care as a human right at the center." (CubaSí)
