Prime Minister Mia Mottley has announced that Barbados will be getting assistance from Cuba to manage the island’s diabetes epidemic.During a joint statement with Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel who arrived on the island on Monday afternoon, Mottley said the two countries will be working together on a medication suitable to treat diabetic ulcers, as a matter of importance.She said the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and other relevant agencies have been mandated to work through the appropriate regulatory channels to make the project a reality within the next few months.“My people here have heard me say over and over that Barbados is in the middle of a diabetes epidemic and, therefore, if I have to put on a priority list of one to 10 where this falls, this falls at 9.9. This is going to make the difference in the lives of ordinary people in every single parish in this country,” the Prime Minister said at the Lloyd Erskine Sandiford Centre (LESC).She also thanked President Diaz-Canel for sending a medical team to assist the island with its COVID-19 response.Mottley said Cuban nurses filled a void and made a difference in Barbados’ ability to manage the pandemic, from a medical perspective.
