HEALTH-CUBA: New Doctors Head Home to Aid Their Communities

by Patricia Grogg

HAVANA, Aug 22 (IPS) - Some are leaving with jobs waiting for them at home, others will have to fight to have their degrees recognised, but all of them now face a unique challenge: to serve as living proof of the effectiveness of the cooperation project that made it possible for them to study medicine in Cuba.

None of them is the same after having spent six years at the Latin American Medical School (ELAM) in Havana, where young people from low-income families in 28 countries - including the United States - are given the opportunity to train as doctors.

"Living and studying with people from so many different places and cultures has been an incredibly enriching experience," said Victoria Hernández of Uruguay, one of the 1,498 members of the school’s first graduating class, who received their diplomas on Saturday.

One of the things that makes ELAM unlike any other medical school is that its students represent over 60 different ethnic groups from throughout Latin American and Africa, including at least one student from almost all of the 22 indigenous groups in Guatemala alone.

One of the school’s aims is to provide world-class academic and professional training while respecting and preserving the cultural, ethnic and religious identity of every single student.

The cost of their training is covered by Cuba’s socialist government, on the condition that they return to their home countries upon graduating to serve their communities, many of which are sorely lacking in health care services.

"It’s a moral commitment," Hernández, 30, remarked to IPS. "There is no contract to enforce it, but I believe the majority of graduates will live up to it anyway."

Hernández is one of a small group of Uruguayan students at ELAM who have devoted part of their vacation every year since 2002 to working in Colonia Nicolich, a poor neighbourhood on the outskirts of Montevideo, the capital.

"Here we’ve learned that it’s possible to create changes, that we can make them happen, instead of waiting for things to be done," commented María Elisa Pérez Sparano, another participant in the community project.

The graduates receiving their diplomas Saturday represented 19 nations in Latin America and the Caribbean. There was also one student from the United States in this first graduating class. Over 60 young people from the United States are currently studying medicine at ELAM, where the total enrolment is now 10,508.

For the first two years, students attend classes at ELAM itself, an upgraded former naval academy located 40 minutes from downtown Havana. They continue their studies in one of the 21 Cuban medical schools located throughout the island.

The scholarships they receive from the Cuban government cover not only their tuition, but also lodging, food, books, uniforms and a monthly stipend throughout the entire six years of study.

ELAM was officially inaugurated in November 1999, with the participation of the heads of state and government attending the 9th Ibero-American Summit in Havana, although several hundred students from Central America were already living and studying there at the time.

The school was initially proposed to the Ibero-American countries as a regional initiative for the training of health care professionals, with matching funds from the students’ home countries to cover their travel costs and monthly stipends.

But up until now, Cuba has continued to cover all of the costs involved as a continuation of the medical cooperation programme put into effect in late 1998, following the devastating passage of Hurricanes George and Mitch through Central America and the Caribbean.

As a result, the majority of the students in this first graduating class hail from Honduras, Nicaragua, Guatemala, El Salvador and the Dominican Republic, the countries hardest hit by the storms.

The six years of study are divided into 12 semesters, and combine classroom study with practical experience.

The medical degrees awarded by the school are fully recognised in Uruguay and the countries of Central America. In other countries, validation procedures are still being discussed, and may require graduates to write equivalency exams in some cases.

Nevertheless, the school’s directors believe that the students graduate with enough training to pass any test, "as long as it is fair."

Saturday’s graduation ceremony was attended by Cuban President Fidel Castro, Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez, Panamanian President Martín Torrijos, and Ecuadorian Vice President Alejandro Serrano.

Also in attendance were Prime Ministers Ralph Gonsalves of St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Baldwin Spencer of Antigua and Barbuda, and Denzil Douglas of St. Kitts and Nevis, as well as government delegations from the Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Dominica, the Dominican Republic, Guatemala, Guyana, Jamaica, St. Lucia, Suriname and Trinidad and Tobago.

Cuba provides these countries with significant assistance in areas like education and health. (END/2005)

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