 The Cuban ambassador to St. Lucia, his Excellency Bernardo Toscano-Sardinez, recently paid a courtesy call on the chief medical officer Dr. Sharon Belma George. The visit provided an opportunity to review and discuss ways to enhance the cooperation between St. Lucia and Cuba in the area of health. His Excellency Bernardo Toscano-Sardinez spoke on the need to continue strengthening the bilateral ties between the two countries. We have here a Cuban Medical Brigade who works in all the areas of the island. We have a number of doctors, nurses and other professional workers or health workers that they are working together with the doctor, nurses here in St. Lucia. And for us it's very important to have that possibility to change daily about the possibility to improve and to strengthen this collaboration in the healthcare programs. Dr. Sharon Belma George says this visit is timely and expressed gratitude to the Cuban government for a continued support and contribution towards the health of the nation. As we are aware, the Cuban and the Cuban system has been an integral part of our healthcare system in terms of support for training health professionals and also providing us with specialty care in various aspects of healthcare, not just for physicians but nurses, pharmacists, etc. within the system. So we were able to discuss how we strengthen that collaboration moving forward and also looking for new ways that we can learn and get support from the Cuban system. Dr. Belma George says the courtesy visit also provided them with the avenue to engage in discussions on new developments in Cuba relating to healthcare, such as the vaccines. Reporting from the Communications Unit of the Ministry of Health, Wellness and Elderly Affairs, I am Finelle Neptune.