Quick Take | A global force for good
The Trump administration has a new enemy: Cuban doctors. Since 1963, the communist nation has sent out over 400,000 healthcare professionals to serve in more than 160 countries. Today, it brings in more than $8 billion for the island nation’s beleaguered economy. Guatemala gave in to American pressure last week and closed its three-decade-old programme hosting Cuban doctors, whereas Italy’s Calabria province resisted it, as did several Caribbean nations last year. The need for having an international medical force is felt more acutely today than ever before. India, which is still remembered in China for sending Dwarkanath Kotnis and four other doctors to treat soldiers in 1938, should take the lead in such a global initiative. It’s a cause that should not face ideological frontiers.