HAVANA, Cuba (ACN): Cuba and Antigua and Barbuda signed a Memorandum of Understanding on Tuesday that will serve as a legal framework for the free eye-surgery program Operation Miracle that has already benefited 1,182 patients from the neighbouring Caribbean nation.

Cuban Health Minister Ramon Balaguer. AFP PHOTO

The document was signed by Cuban Health Minister Ramon Balaguer and by Baldwin Spencer, Prime Minister of Antigua and Barbuda, who arrived in Havana on Monday for an official visit at the invitation of Cuban President Raul Castro.

Speaking to ACN, Balaguer said that Spencer was particularly interested in the Cuban experience in the treatment of diabetes, a disease that is significantly affecting the people of Antigua and Barbuda.

The PM also referred to non-communicable chronic diseases and spoke of a Centre for Integral Diagnosis donated by Cuba. He also expressed his interest in increasing cooperation in the training of nursing personnel from his country in Cuba.

Operation Miracle, a programme that began in 2004, has already benefited more than 1.1 million people from 32 countries, mainly from Latin America and the Caribbean.

Patients from Antigua and Barbuda entered the programme on July 22, 2005, and it has thus far returned sight to one in every 58 inhabitants of that Caribbean nation.

Currently, 44 Cuban workers of the health sector make their contribution in Antigua and Barbuda, while 43 young people from the neighbouring country study medicine in Cuba.