>X-Sender: [EMAIL PROTECTED] >Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > >NY Times, February 17, 2000 > >HAVANA JOURNAL > >To Latin Neighbors, Cuba Plays the Good Doctor > >By DAVID GONZALEZ > >HAVANA -- Nieves Dinora graduated from high school in Nicaragua with good >grades and no prospects. Since her father, a farmer, had no money to send >her to college, she figured marriage and motherhood were her only options. > >"Like many of my friends there, I thought I would take the nine-month >career," she said. "It does not cost anything, just nine months. Easy, no?" > >But rather than having babies, Ms. Dinora is now learning how to deliver >them. > >She is among 1,900 students at the Latin American School of Medical >Sciences who are enrolled in a six-year program that is a unique twist on >the old concept of overseas medical schools. While many people think a >Caribbean campus is the last-ditch resort for foreign students with fat >wallets but slim grades, this one is the exact opposite, giving full >scholarships to smart youths from poor rural areas in 18 Latin American and >Caribbean countries. > >The medical school is the Cuban government's response to the devastation >from Hurricanes Georges and Mitch, which ripped through the region in 1998, >killing thousands as they destroyed villages and spawned public health >problems. While Cuba sent medical teams to help, officials realized that it >would be better in the long run to help educate a new generation of doctors >who would return to their impoverished countries and work in remote >communities where medical care was spotty and expensive. > >"Life has shown us some lessons that we cannot forget," said Juan Carizo >Estévez, the school's rector. "That is the necessity of the right to health >care that these countries have. We have a responsibility that these >students return to their own countries with a solid foundation for dealing >with the problems of public health they will find." > >The new medical school is the culmination of the Cuban government's decades >of reliance on its reputation as a medically advanced society to burnish >its international image. Starting in 1963, when it sent a team of doctors >and nurses to Algeria, the government has gone on to establish medical >schools in the third world, send thousands of Cuban doctors for long-term >overseas assignments and offer scholarships to study alongside Cuban >students in the island's medical schools. > >Medical aid was as important an aspect of President Fidel Castro's aid to >the third world as his nation's training of guerrilla and terrorist groups >was during the cold war. While cold-war conflicts have died down, Cuba's >latest experiment in medical education is still tinged with the passions >from that era. > >"By doing good, particularly in the field of health and education, Cuba >would look better than the United States," said Julie Feinsilver, author of >"Healing the Masses" (Berkeley, 1993), which examined the role of health >care in Cuba's foreign and domestic policy. "This is a symbolic war, not >that the U.S. looks at it that way. But Fidel said when he finished the >revolution, his real destiny was war against the U.S. The war is not a >material war, but a symbolic war. Anything that Cuba does that enhances its >prestige on the world stage, which medical diplomacy and providing >scholarships does, is a battle won for Cuba versus the United States." > >The school's very location is a sign of the changing battleground -- it >occupies 82 blue-and-white buildings that hug the ocean along the campus of >what was an academy for naval officers and merchant mariners. > >Students were selected through tests and interviews and are mostly chosen >by their home countries. The first contingent, from Honduras, Nicaragua and >El Salvador, the areas hit hardest by the hurricanes, arrived almost a year >ago. > >Cuban officials said they started the school as a gesture of international >good will, and that they did not intend to politicize the students. Still, >many students spoke about how many doctors in their countries were >interested only in making money while the poor languished and children died >from preventable diseases, echoing a common Cuban critique of modern >medicine. > >Edmundo Blandón, 20, recalled how his mother in Nicaragua suffered from >pains for years, being told all the time that she only had a kidney >infection. Unable to see a specialist, she suffered and waited for two >years until her daughter took a loan from a co-worker. > >"As a child, you see how in your family there are needs for a doctor to >help you," Mr. Blandón said. "When she was 59, she finally learned she had >advanced cancer. She could not have had the medical tests done earlier, >because we did not have the money." > >She died soon after he enrolled in the school. > >"She had felt bad because she thought I would leave this school because of >her," he said. "But she told me that in the first place, nothing could be >done for her. So, if I was left alone with nobody to look after, I should >take advantage of this opportunity." > >The students begin with six months of pre-medical studies in basic sciences >like physics, chemistry and biology. They proceed to two years studying >embryology, biochemistry and other medical subjects, followed by four years >studying and working in Cuban hospitals and clinics. > >Teachers said they follow a curriculum that combines textbook lessons with >practical experience, with an emphasis on problem solving and preventive >care. It hews to the Cuban approach to health care, which stresses >community-based medicine and public health. > >Although students from the same country live together in dormitories to >ease their homesickness, the classes have a cross section of races and >ethnicities, including a significant number of Indian youths from Central >America. Some students encounter other ethnic groups from their own nation >for the first time at the school. > >This month, 1,500 more students will arrive at the school, which expects to >enroll some 5,000 students ultimately. Already, workers have been preparing >new dormitories and lecture halls. > >The students, like those everywhere, grouse that the grind is rough, >leaving them with little free time. But considering where they came from, >many said it was a small sacrifice for the chance to become a professional >instead of a cabdriver or farmer. > >Norlan López spent his high school years in Nicaragua getting up at 4 in >the morning to work as a fisherman. He was still doing that when he was >accepted into medical school. > >"I had more pressure on me when I was in high school," he said. > >"It was a hard life that I would not wish on anyone. That is why I am happy >to be here." > > >Louis Proyect > >(The Marxism mailing list: http://www.marxmail.org) __________________________________ KOMINFORM P.O. Box 66 00841 Helsinki - Finland +358-40-7177941, fax +358-9-7591081 e-mail [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.kominf.pp.fi ___________________________________ [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe/unsubscribe messages mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] ___________________________________
