Cuba deploys ‘white coat army’ of medics to Turkey and Syria

Cuba is sending healthcare workers to Turkey and Syria, joining a growing international effort to provide rescue and medical aid after this week’s devastating earthquakes.

Earlier in the week, Syrian ambassador Ghassan Obeid told Cuban state-run media that 27 Cuban medics would be headed to Syria to provide support to victims of earthquakes.

Cuba regularly sends its “armies of white coats” to disaster sites and disease outbreaks around the world since. Cuban doctors were on the front lines in the fight against cholera in Haiti and against Ebola in West Africa in the 2010s.