| Submit your comments on this article |
| India-Pakistan |
| President Musharraf praises Cuban medical teamÂ’s efforts |
| 2008-04-17 |
| ISLAMABAD: President General Pervez Musharraf has praised the Cuban medical team’s efforts in treating earthquake victims. In his remarks on a Cuban documentary “On the Hills of the Himalayas” that would be shown on PTV World on Friday at 9pm, Musharraf praised the medical team, the Cuban government and its people. “I have no words to express my gratitude (for the humanitarian work that they are doing),” he said. The president said that he was extremely grateful to his Cuban counterpart, Fidel Castro, for sending the medics to help the people in the earthquake-affected areas of Pakistan. Interesting. Guess you don't need our help then. Through interviews of Cubans and Pakistanis, the documentary depicts the efforts of the Cuban medical team to help the earthquake-affected people. The documentary has been directed by famous Cuban director, Roberto Chile Perez with background music composed by Frank Fernandez Tamayo, a renowned Cuban musician. At the premier of the film on Thursday, before the Cuban medical brigade, government officials and reporters, Information Secretary Shahid Rafi said that the Cubans had rendered “outstanding” services to over 1.5 million earthquake victims. “Coming from halfway across the world, they set very high standards of professionalism and services in the earthquake-affected areas of Pakistan,” he said. He said that the Ministry for Information and Broadcasting had maintained close contact with the relief and rescue agencies and provided information to the media. He said that the ministry helped more than 800 foreign reporters in covering the earthquake. The Press Information Department, he said, covered the daily visits of the president, the prime minister, ministers and foreign dignitaries to the earthquake-hit areas. Rafi also praised the role of the electronic and print media for highlighting the government’s relief and rescue efforts. During the donors’ conference in November 2005, the ministry showed a film ‘Rising as One’ about the earthquake, Rafi said. “The help and contribution of rescue workers, medical teams and rehabilitation groups can never be measured in terms of figures,” he said. Ivan Mora, the Cuban Embassy charge’d affairs, said that the medial teams had to work under difficult conditions. “We want to send a message to the international community that human solidarity is really possible,” he said. He said that the Cuban medical team, consisting of over 2,500 doctors, provided medical services at 45 locations in the NWFP and Azad Kashmir. APP |
| Posted by:Steve |