Havana , Cuba ( CNN ) -- A U.S. State Department contractor jailed in Cuba will be allowed to receive a medical exam from a U.S. doctor , a Cuban government official told CNN Wednesday . The family of Alan Gross , 64 , for months had asked that they be permitted to send a doctor to examine the Maryland native who is serving a 15-year sentence for bringing to Cuba banned communications equipment as part of a U.S. government-funded program to promote democracy on the island . Gross ' family said that he has lost more than 100 pounds since his incarceration in 2009 and that a mass on his shoulder may be cancerous . The Cuban government countered that Gross receives medical care from Cuban doctors at the prison hospital where he is being held and that he is in good condition for a man his age . Jared Gensler , an attorney for Gross , declined to comment on the Cuban government 's allowing Gross to receive a visit from a U.S. physician or when the visit would take place . The change in course comes as Cuba has intensified its campaign to secure the release of Cuban intelligence agents serving lengthy prison sentences in the United States . Cuban officials argue that the men infiltrated hard-line Cuban-exile groups to prevent terrorist attacks on the island . But U.S. prosecutors called the men spies , and they were convicted in 2001 . Four of the agents remain in U.S. federal prison . The fifth man , Rene Gonzalez , returned to Cuba last month after serving 14 years in prison and on supervised release . Gonzalez , who was born in Chicago , renounced his U.S. citizenship last month as part of a deal that allowed him to return to the island and not serve a final year of supervised release in the U.S. Cuba will continue to push for the four other agents ' release , Gonzalez said in a news conference in Havana Wednesday . `` We have hope that if the American people know about the case , the facts , they will put pressure on the White House for a solution , '' Gonzalez said . Last year , Cuban officials said they wanted to negotiate the jailed agents ' case along with Gross ' . `` The ball 's in their court , '' said Johana Tablada , subdirector of the department that oversees U.S. affairs at Cuba 's Foreign Ministry . `` We are waiting on the U.S. government 's response . '' But U.S. officials have rejected calls for a prisoner swap , instead arguing that Gross did not spy during his visits to Cuba and should be released immediately . `` Hopefully , a solution can be found that is mutually beneficial , '' said Kenia Serrano , president of the Cuban Institute of Friendship with the Peoples , a Cuban organization working to secure the agents ' freedom . `` All the families involved have suffered greatly . ''
Cuba to let U.S. doctor examine Gross , 15 years , a jailed State Department contractor . Gross ' family says he 's in ill health ; Cuban officials say he 's healthy for his age . Gross is serving 64 for bringing banned communications equipment to the island . Cuba wants to negotiate Gross ' fate and that of Cuban in Cuba federal prison for spying .