MANDEVILLE, Manchester — Following the recent termination of the long-standing Cuban medical support programme, Jamaica’s Southern Regional Health Authority (SRHA) has launched an urgent recruitment drive to replace departing Cuban medical specialists across the south-central region of the country.
In an exclusive interview with Jamaica Observer, SRHA Director Michael Bent outlined the scale of the staffing gap created by the programme’s end. Across SRHA’s coverage area, approximately 30 Cuban medical professionals have exited the system: 10 based at facilities in Mandeville, another 10 in Clarendon, and the remaining 10 working at smaller parish-level health sites. While the authority has already hired local Jamaican doctors and nurses to cover non-specialist roles, Bent confirmed that critical gaps remain in high-skill specialty departments that have yet to be filled.
The most pressing needs are concentrated at Mandeville Regional Hospital, where the radiology and nephrology departments are currently operating without their Cuban specialist leads. Bent expressed confidence that these positions can be filled quickly, noting that formal recruitment processes are scheduled to launch before the end of the current month. In the interim, the SRHA has implemented contingency measures to prevent disruption to patient care, drawing on existing local medical staff who previously worked alongside the Cuban team to cover core services.
“To date, we haven’t seen any major disruption to care delivery because of the exit of the Cuban professionals,” Bent explained. “Our local medical teams already worked side-by-side with their Cuban counterparts for years, so while we are facing a clear manpower challenge, we still have the core skills in place to keep services running. We are working aggressively to close that gap as quickly as possible.”
For the radiology department, the authority has arranged for part-time coverage from specialist staff based at Black River health facilities while recruitment is ongoing, a temporary solution Bent says is keeping services on track.
Alwyn Miller, chief executive officer of Mandeville Regional Hospital, echoed Bent’s assessment, noting that even the loss of a single high-skill specialist creates a major impact for the facility. Miller explained that Cuban medics brought rare, much-needed specialist expertise that is in short supply locally. Beyond radiology and nephrology, Miller confirmed that the hospital’s accident and emergency department lost a specialist nurse, the high-dependency unit lost multiple clinical staff, and the pathology department lost at least one senior specialist.
“Even the loss of one highly trained specialist hits hard when we are already operating with tight staffing margins for these roles, because the skills they brought were irreplaceable in the short term,” Miller said. Still, he emphasized that the hospital’s local team has remained resilient in the face of the challenge. “Our team is incredibly dedicated and used to problem-solving through the obstacles we face every day. We’re continuing to deliver care day by day as we work to secure long-term replacements for these critical roles.”