On Monday, the Jamaican head of state visited the Pando Ferrer Ophthalmological Institute in the Cuban capital, where thousands of low- income patients from Latin America and the Caribbean have recovered or improved their sight since 2004 as a result of the Cuba-Venezuela free eye-surgery program called Operation Miracle.

During a tour on Tuesday of the Carlos J. Finlay Center, dedicated to producing vaccines, Golding was interested in the relation between research and marketing of the finished products. The institution's director Concepcion Campa told the visitor that 68 countries have benefited from Cuban biotechnological products made in local facilities.

The Jamaican Prime Minister arrived in Cuba last Sunday with an accompanying delegation made up of First Lady Loma Golding, Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Kenneth Baugh, and ministers Edmund Bartler (Tourism), Christopher Tufton (Agriculture), Rudyard Spencer, (Health) and Horace Chang (Water and Housing).

(mathaba.net)