KINGSTON, Jamaica — Emmy Award-winning actress Sheryl Lee Ralph is weighing in on Jamaica’s decision to end its longstanding partnership with the Cuban Medical Brigade — and she has questions for Washington.
“Will America now send the doctors so badly needed in Jamaica?” the Abbott Elementary star posted on X Friday, responding to a Jamaica Gleaner report on the programme’s discontinuation.
Ralph, who is Jamaican American and the goddaughter of former Prime Minister P.J. Patterson, voiced her concern as the island prepares to lose more than 270 Cuban medical professionals.
The programme’s end was announced by Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade Kamina Johnson Smith, who insisted the decision was made independently — not under pressure from the United States, which has long criticized the arrangement. Under the programme, participating countries pay the Cuban government directly, which then distributes a stipend to the deployed medical workers. Johnson Smith suggested Jamaica could explore negotiating directly with the doctors and nurses going forward.
Cuba, however, told a different story. In a statement released Friday, the Cuban government said Jamaica had yielded to US pressure and confirmed it would be withdrawing its medical staff from the country.
The departure of over 270 healthcare workers raises urgent questions about the strain on Jamaica’s already-stretched public health system — and, as Ralph pointedly asked, who will fill the gap.
