Academic Services provide a broad range of levels, in accordance with the quality and position Cuba has earned in the realm of teaching, both general and specialized. Traditions, knowledge and competence accumulated from the onset of the eighteenth century have been added to more contemporary experiences; this is a clear contribution of the robust and secular professional sector.
In the past 50 years, Cuba’s medical sciences universities have prepared more than 100,000 medical doctors.
Over the past fifty years, young health professionals from 130 countries on all continents have been trained in Cuba. Most of them returned to their places of origin and many work as outstanding professionals providing health services to their people.
The desire to share their experiences as students in Cuba and how those moments have influenced their tasks and perspectives as professionals prompted us to inquire about their destinations. The list is huge, from current health managers in their countries to members of the “Henry Reeves” Cuban Brigade specialized in disaster situations and major epidemic outbreaks. So, we checked out Latin America and the Caribbean and contacted María Esther Betanco from Nicaragua; Ivan Franco from Uruguay, and Patrick Dely in Haiti, three members of Graduate Association of the Latin American School of Medicine of Cuba.
The desire to share their experiences as students in Cuba and how those moments have influenced their tasks and perspectives as professionals prompted us to inquire about their destinations. The list is huge, from current health managers in their countries to members of the “Henry Reeves” Cuban Brigade specialized in disaster situations and major epidemic outbreaks. So, we checked out Latin America and the Caribbean and contacted María Esther Betanco from Nicaragua; Ivan Franco from Uruguay, and Patrick Dely in Haiti, three members of Graduate Association of the Latin American School of Medicine of Cuba.
Ivan remembers Cuba as the stage of his life in which he acquired further spiritual development and knowledge, where he learned what solidarity, humanism and love are actually all about, how to give what you have and not what you have left out without expecting anything in return. “It was no doubt the best experience I’ve ever had in my lifetime. If I could turn back time, I’d live that out all over again, time and again, he said. For him, the knowledge he acquired are up to par with those taught at the finest universities of medicine worldwide. In Uruguay, he worked in several emergency services, including at the hospital in his hometown, then and returned to Cuba to study the specialty of Family Medicine. He’s currently the head of the Health Center in Sarandí del Yí, tasked with the administration of the State-run health services there, where he stands up for free and top-quality universal health for all.
Mary Esther Betanco, from Nicaragua, describes her experience in Cuba during college as of extraordinary significance because she learned “to be a doctor of science and conscience, to be more humane.” She says that wherever she goes, the population recognizes her not only as a Nicaraguan, but also as a Cuban because “the formation in Cuba gives you the most beautiful subjects matter of all, one that only exists in Cuba, and that is human sensitivity, a link that gives each and every health professional the chance to be accepted anywhere in the world and allows them to develop and evolve in different spheres.” Like Ivan, she returned to Cuba to continue studying and become a specialist in Family Medicine and Internal Medicine, Endocrinology and a Master in Medical Emergencies.
In 2005, she traveled to Haiti as a member of the Henry Reeve International Brigade and served a stint as head of the local hospital. Now, Maria gives outpatient consultations as an endocrinologist in several places across her country where that specialty did not exist before. As we speak, she moves from one hospital to another to bring her services to patients. She learned that solidarity is the noblest behavior and task that could ever exist on the face of the planet.
“I am Dr. Patrick Dely”, writes this member of the first graduation from the Latin American School of Medicine at the Santiago de Cuba Faculty. When he arrived in Cuba, he quickly understood that this was not a rich country at all, yet it is a land that offers the best it has with a lot of dignity. He learned from his highly-academic teachers that being a doctor there’s no job he’s unwilling to fulfill whenever there’s a good cause at stake. This sentiment makes him feel free.Patrick is a specialist in Family Medicine, Hygiene and Epidemiology, and holds a Master Degree in Infectious Diseases. After 12 years studying those subjects in Cuba, he now works in his native country, Haiti, as National Director of the Epidemiology, Laboratory and Research Division of the Ministry of Public Health and Population, and teaches at the University of Medicine and Pharmacy.
He tells me that he is married to a Haitian doctor who also studied in Cuba. He returned to Haiti in 2010, four days after the disastrous earthquake and a week after finishing his specialty in Cuba, to join the Henry Reeve Cuban Brigade given the emergency situation his homeland was going through. He founded a nonprofit deluxe clinic in Sanit Michel de Attaye, his hometown, to bring health to the local population there. Over the past seven years, he has been in 18 different countries and has collaborated with other universities and ministries. He admits that his studies in Cuba have led him to taking positions of strategic level in a short time span as a result of good training. He underscores the job of his teachers and their dedication to each and every student, the academic methodology, the opportunity to practice what he has learned and the possibility to relate to the patients.
In 2005, she traveled to Haiti as a member of the Henry Reeve International Brigade and served a stint as head of the local hospital. Now, Maria gives outpatient consultations as an endocrinologist in several places across her country where that specialty did not exist before. As we speak, she moves from one hospital to another to bring her services to patients. She learned that solidarity is the noblest behavior and task that could ever exist on the face of the planet.
“I am Dr. Patrick Dely”, writes this member of the first graduation from the Latin American School of Medicine at the Santiago de Cuba Faculty. When he arrived in Cuba, he quickly understood that this was not a rich country at all, yet it is a land that offers the best it has with a lot of dignity. He learned from his highly-academic teachers that being a doctor there’s no job he’s unwilling to fulfill whenever there’s a good cause at stake. This sentiment makes him feel free.Patrick is a specialist in Family Medicine, Hygiene and Epidemiology, and holds a Master Degree in Infectious Diseases. After 12 years studying those subjects in Cuba, he now works in his native country, Haiti, as National Director of the Epidemiology, Laboratory and Research Division of the Ministry of Public Health and Population, and teaches at the University of Medicine and Pharmacy.
He tells me that he is married to a Haitian doctor who also studied in Cuba. He returned to Haiti in 2010, four days after the disastrous earthquake and a week after finishing his specialty in Cuba, to join the Henry Reeve Cuban Brigade given the emergency situation his homeland was going through. He founded a nonprofit deluxe clinic in Sanit Michel de Attaye, his hometown, to bring health to the local population there. Over the past seven years, he has been in 18 different countries and has collaborated with other universities and ministries. He admits that his studies in Cuba have led him to taking positions of strategic level in a short time span as a result of good training. He underscores the job of his teachers and their dedication to each and every student, the academic methodology, the opportunity to practice what he has learned and the possibility to relate to the patients.
So, the stories of those who studied in Cuba, no matter what world region we might be speaking of, could be similar or differ in some similar, but in all cases a common sentiment is repeatedly shared: the need to say thanks for all they learned and the emotion of taking Cuba in their hearts for always.