NEW YORK, February 4th, 2010— A group of seven American doctors, graduates of the Latin American School of Medicine in Havana, left today for Haiti to work together with the Cuban team that is attending to earthquake victims in that Caribbean nation. “These dedicated and skilled young doctors are ready to serve. They received their MD degrees in Cuba and they are uniquely prepared for the multiple challenges of this urgent mission” said Rev. Lucius Walker Jr., executive director of the Interreligious Foundation for Community Organization (IFCO), the agency that administers scholarships for U.S. students at the Cuban university. The doctors, who left from Newark airport in New Jersey, traveled “with backpacks full of medicines and supplies,” Walker added. The Latin American School of Medicine was established in 1999 as part of the Cuban assistance program for victims of Hurricanes Mitch and George. There are many students from the United States at the Cuban Faculty of Medicine. They elude the embargo (a.k.a. blockade) via special student licenses. According to IFCO, more than 100 medical professionals (from Chile, Spain, Venezuela, Mexico, Colombia, and Canada) are working with the Cuban team in Haiti, where 200,000 people died as a result of the earthquake. (Cubaminrex- Granma Internacional) |