US embargo delays Ebola doctors pay from Cuba

WHO official says embargo on Cuba made it difficult to pay Cuban doctors currently fighting epidemic in Sierra Leone. Cuba has sent 256 medical workers to Africa, with 165 in Sierra Leone and the rest in Guinea and Liberia [AFP] Cuba had to cover food and lodging expenses for dozens of its doctors fighting Ebola in Sierra Leone after the US embargo delayed payments from the World Health Organization (WHO), an official at the UN agency said. Jose Luis Di Fabio, the health agency's representative for Cuba, told The Associated Press news agency on Friday, it had to request special licenses from the US Treasury Department to transfer money to the doctors in Africa. The licenses were eventually granted and the government-employed doctors  only recently received payments dating as far back as October, he said. The US State Department had no immediate comment on Friday. Cuban officials in Havana did not respond to requests seeking comment either. US officials as high as Secretary of State John Kerry have praised the Cuban effort against Ebola. Infographic: Just how deadly is Ebola? But the longstanding embargo affects virtually all dealings with Cubans, even for banks outside the US, because they depend on dollar transfers through US institutions. Cuba has sent 256 medical workers to Africa, with 165 in Sierra Leone and the rest in Guinea and Liberia. Cuban doctors generally receive salaries of about $70 a month, with some specialists earning more, but the Cubans in Africa are receiving $250 a day in direct payments from WHO that are meant to cover their food and lodging and provide a margin of extra compensation. The embargo issue did not affect the state salaries, which are paid to banks inside Cuba, only the extra payments from WHO. Di Fabio said there were relatively minor delays in opening accounts for the doctors in Guinea and Liberia, but those have been resolved. There has also been a delay in deploying Cuban doctors in Sierra Leone, with only about 60 of 165 Cubans there in the field, said Dr Carlos Castro, leader of the Cuban doctors in Guinea. Di Fabio said there was a clear need for "better coordination of efforts." He said that in Liberia, about 30 Cuban doctors are working closely and efficiently with US doctors in a centre built by the US Agency for International Development.