Cuba to Help Mozambique Idai Victims with Field Hospital

Cuba’s Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Anayansi Rodriguez Camejo announced that Cuba will be sending on Wednesday a “field hospital” to Mozambique, with full staff and equipment, as a contribution to the management of public health crisis resulting from the devastating impact of Cyclone Idai.

The new internationalist medical contingent will join 372 Cuban doctors who are already providing their services in the African country, 36 of whom arrived on March 14, when Idai made landfall for the first time, reports the Cuban News Agency (ACN).

It estimated that the natural disaster has left so far some 447 people dead and some 794,035 people have been severely impacted, 128,941 of which are currently staying in 143 shelters provided by President Filipe Nyusi administration.

Cyclone Idai started as a tropical storm at Mozambique’s eastern coast on March 4. Days later, Idai made landfall and became one of the worst southern hemisphere tropical cyclones ever recorded as it reached four of five categories on the Saffir-Simpson scale, causing multiple economic losses in Mozambique and Zimbabwe.

Vice Minister Rodrigue also accompanied Tuesday Gladys Bejerano Portela, who is Cuba’s State Council vice president and Comptroller General, to the Mozambican embassy in Havana, where both officials signed a condolence book with the African republic.