Cuba Can Teach Us About Healthcare
Written by EditorChoice
Tuesday, 07 August 2007
~snip~
Cuba trains international students at its medical schools. After Hurricane George and Mitch plummeted Central America and the Caribbean, Cuban Doctors rushed to the disaster zone, as was their practice for similar acts of Mother Nature.
When it was time to go back to Cuba, the team of doctors saw a need for posting doctors in several of these countries in order to train local people in medicine.
Thus the Havana-based Latin American School of Medicine or ELAM, was born, offering $10,000 scholarships for free medical training.
The Program has grown to 22,000 students from Latin America, the Caribbean, Africa, Asia and the United States. The students attend ELAM and 28 other medical schools across Cuba. The students represent all ethnic groups, 51% are women, and they come from 30 countries.
A young person from inner city Bronx who chooses to take part in this program, forinstance, must promise to take her expertise back to the neighborhood she came from.
350,000 people now work in the healthcare field in Cuba, serving a population of 11 million people. Everyone has access to doctors, nurses, specialists and medicines. A doctor and nurse team oversees every neighborhood.
House calls are routine. The wisdom of treating a patient holistically, knowing a patient's family and her environment, is crucial to successful treatment.
More:
http://pr-gb.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=6904&Itemid=9