Panama has terminated the activity of Cuban eye specialists involved in free surgery for poor patients and demands that they leave the country by the end of April, the Panamanian health minister said.
Cuban ophthalmologists performed surgery on poor Panama residents free of charge in line with an intergovernmental cooperation agreement. Over 50,000 surgical operations have been carried out as part of Operation Miracle. Cuba implements similar programs in 29 countries.
"The Cuban program will be replaced by national project Vision 20-20 to be implemented by Panamanian doctors," Franklin Vergara said.
He indicated no reason for the move, but local media said the decision could have been made under pressure from Panamanian medical elite whose representatives had demanded the program shut down as free-of-charge medical aid threatened their economic interests.
Panama and Cuba are also involved in cooperation programs in education, culture and sports.
MEXICO CITY, January 13 (RIA Novosti)
