Wa, March 31, GNA - Dr. Alexis Nang-beifubah, the Upper West Regional Director of Health Services, has commended the Cuban Medical Brigade in the region for their enormous contributions to quality health delivery. He said the Cuban doctors had always demonstrated their true spirit of commitment towards achieving positive results that enabled the people to enjoy quality health services.

He said the number of Cuban doctors in the Upper West Region was greater than that of the Ghanaian doctors and this showed how important their services were to the people of the region.

Dr. Nang-beifubah said this when he addressed the Cuban Medical Brigade regional scientific workshop at Wa on Tuesday. He explained that the purpose of the workshop was to bring together all the Cuban doctors serving in the region to share their experiences for the past year and to chart a new way forward for 2010 to improve on their performances.

Dr. Nang-beifubah commended them for their keen interest in documenting whatever information they gathered and urged Ghanaian doctors to emulate them and eschew their lack of the culture of documentation.

He thanked the Cuban Medical Brigade for giving them seven additional doctors and called for closer collaboration between them and their Ghanaian counterparts to enable them render quality health services to the people. Dr. Felipe Delgado Bustillo, National Coordinator of the Cuban Medical Brigade, said Ghana had the biggest medical brigade among the 26 African countries that they operate in and attributed this to the good relationship that exist between the two countries.

He said about 187 doctors from the Cuban Medical Brigade were in Ghana and working in about 60 hospitals providing both medical services as well as carrying out researches.

Mr Bustillo listed accommodation, food and transport as the major challenges confronting the doctors and called on the Ministry of Health and the Ghana Health Service to help address those challenges. The doctors made presentations and said malaria, typhoid, hepatitis B, celebro spinal meningitis and HIV/AIDS were prevalent in the region. It was revealed that CSM cases in the region for 2010, though still in its first quarter, had increased over the years while malaria still remained the top most killer. 31 March 10