7 Sep 2006

Kiribati expects health care boost with Cuban ties

2:02 pm on 7 September 2006

Kiribati is expected to receive a further boost to its health and medical care system with the prospect of local students travelling to Cuba to train as medical professionals.

A group of ten Cuban doctors is now working in Kiribati's main hospital in the capital, Tarawa, under a two-year programme between the two countries.

The newly established Cuba-Kiribati cooperation committee says another group of Cuban doctors is expected to arrive shortly.

And, the head of the committee, Dr Airam Meetai, says discussions are now under way for a scholarship arrangement.

"The Kiribati students will go and study in Cuba, and offer by the Cuban government is for 50 this year that should should go to Cuba."

Dr Meetai says most of the local doctors in Kiribati are graduates from the Fiji School of Medicine based in Suva.