> > Re: 11. AP Exclusive: Palestinians quit medical study in Venezuela > (Joseph Catron) > & 19 &20. Re: AP Exclusive: Palestinians quit medical study in > Venezuela (Robert Naiman) > > And continues: > > "And also there's the question of whether the students were properly > screened. I know that generally there are screenings for this program that > are good at weeding out those that would be unhappy with the career > outlets that this diploma provides internationally." > TO:
> Joseph Catron <[email protected]> wrote: > >> This is unfortunate news. Does anyone have insights on Venezuelan > medical education? I do not know many Palestinians who would walk away > from international scholarships easily. > >> > http://bigstory.ap.org/article/d2e8b4b0f1f5407ba66959875cc82b55/ap-exclusive-palestinians-quit-medical-study-venezuela > > Response; Pure speculation of course without more detail, but: 1) Preventive medicine while crucial, not necessarily what these folk wanted to "become doctors": As the article states they wanted to be: "The program to train young Palestinians as doctors was to be the latest addition to an array of international solidarity programs the late President Hugo Chavez established, the best-known of which provides communist Cuba with cheap oil in exchange for the services of tens of thousands of health professionals. But eight months later, about a third of the Palestinians have dropped out, complaining the program lacks academic rigor, according to interviews " 2) Preventive medicine crucial - as I said above. But, not the same as modern 'curative' - and high-tech medicine (well evaluated by the highest standards of modern-day Evidence based medicine I hasten to add). And especially in imperialist-driven war-torn Palestine - preventive medicine *not* enough by itself. Read the books of trauma surgeons and anaesthetists in Palestine if you are not convinced. I have always had a problem with the either or mentality of many progressive physicians and health care workers, who point to Edwin Chadwick and the lessons from the 19th century. 3) It is quite possible that the "academic rigor" was lower than those individual may have wanted-expected. After all - the target of preventive medicine is generally much simpler than some other complexities in medicine. 4) But also as Naiman above points out, one does not know the motivations of those who went for the diploma. It goes without saying here, that those wanting to do medicine are a varied flock: From those modelling themselves on humanitarians to those modelling themselves on big money-makers. Hari Kumar
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