More than 730 Haitians Physicians Trained in Cuba

By Eduardo Palomares Calderón
[log in to unmask]
July 4, 2011

http://www.ahora.cu/english/sections/health/4557-more-than-730-haitians-physicians-trained-in-cuba.html

One-hundred-and-fifteen Haitians will receive their Medical
Doctor diplomas at the Medical School of Santiago de Cuba.

After this graduation the number of physicians from Haiti
trained in Cuba from 1999 to date will total 731 medical
doctors.

Their scholarships are part of a program that started in 1999
on Fidel Castro’s initiative to train students from Latin
America and the Caribbean.

Head of the Medical School Dr. Rosa Delia Deconger
Castellanos said that the first group of Haitian doctors
graduated in 2005. With 291 students currently majoring in
Medicine at the school, it seems that the goal to train 1,000
doctors from that country in a decade will be met.

Likewise, Haitian doctors have had the opportunity to pursue
different specialties in Cuba. Cuba has already trained 244
doctors in General Medicine and there are more than 100
residents pursuing their second specialty in Cuba especially
in Paediatrics, Surgery, Gynaecology and Obstetrics and
Cardiology.

In this way, Cuba helps solve one of the most urgent problems
of the Haitian health care system that presently has a rate
of 2,7 doctors for every ten thousand inhabitants - the World
Health Organization sets that rate at 25.

Dr. Rosa Delia Ducónger said that the newly graduates have
already some experience dealing with situations of
catastrophe since many of them travelled with the Cuban
Medical Brigade that provided assistance to the victims of
Haiti’s earthquake last year. She said that 115 Haitians will
receive their diploma along with 293 Cuban students and 27
Guineans, of whom 30 Haitians, 44 Cubans and 12 Guineans will
graduate Suma Cum Laude.

The school expects to receive 3,687 students from 30
countries for the 2011-2012 school year: 2,454 Cuban
students, 302 from Angola, 291 Haitians and 224 Bolivians.

Founded in 1979, the School Medicine of Santiago de Cuba has
graduated 4,812 physicians since its opening. Of them, 1,051
came from other countries especially Africa and the Caribbean
as well as 2,419 Cuban nurses. / Granma

___________________________________________

Portside aims to provide material of interest to people
on the left that will help them to interpret the world
and to change it.

Submit via email: [log in to unmask]

Submit via the Web: http://portside.org/submittous3

Frequently asked questions: http://portside.org/faq

Sub/Unsub: http://portside.org/subscribe-and-unsubscribe

Search Portside archives: http://portside.org/archive

Contribute to Portside: https://portside.org/donate