Over 22,000 foreign doctors trained by Cuba in 2011

Prensa Latina　

Cuba will close this year with almost 22,000 doctors from 66 countries trained in study programs similar to those used in Caribbean nations that focus on preventive medicine, indicated today's press.

Those included in that figure will complete their study in December with the first graduation of doctors in Venezuela with Cuban teachers and methods, the daily Granma said after noting the graduation so far of about 13,600 doctors in other countries.

The largest number of graduates, almost 10,000, affected last year by Hurricane Mitch, attended studies at the Latin American School of Medicine (ELAM) in Havana, opened in 1999 initially to train young people from Central America.

Soon the initiative of the leader of the Cuban Revolution, Fidel Castro, will expand to the rest of Latin America, Asia, Africa and even to poor communities in the United States.

According to the source, Cuba has 21,000 students enrolled in medical universities from 113 nations, more than 1,700 of them attend in their own countries in the last years of their study.

Another 34,000 young people educated by Cuban teachers are added to the data in Guinea Bissau, East Timor, Gambia, Tanzania, Eritrea, Equatorial Guinea, Angola, Bolivia, Nicaragua, South Africa, Guyana and Venezuela.

Also, almost 1,600 doctors from 52 countries conducted post-graduate studies here for Integral General Medicine and secondary specialties.

Translated from the Portuguese version by:

Lisa Karpova

Pravda.Ru