CubaMinrex. Sitio del Ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores de Cuba

Over 8,000 Doctors from 30 Countries Have Graduated in Cuba.

CUBA, November 15, 2010.-  Over 8,580 doctors from 30 countries have graduated at the Havana-based Latin American School of Medicine (ELAM) since it opened on November 15, 1999.

The idea for this school came from then Cuban President Fidel Castro who presided over the opening ceremony.

The school’s Rector Dr. Juan Carrizo said that their program to train doctors is not exclusively carried out at the Havana facility, but that it makes use of another 22 Schools of Medicine across the island.

Carrizo said that, as we speak, 105 ELAM graduates from 17 nations are stationed in Haiti; a group that includes 57 who are involved in a nationwide program to fight cholera.

Carrizo said that the school not only sees to the scientific achievement of its students but also to have them socially committed and to develop an internationalist spirit.

The school presently enrols students from Latin America, the Caribbean, Africa and the United States. A total of 40 U.S. young people have graduated as medical doctors at this school.

Each year, the school enrols some 1,500 students, out of which between 1,200 and 1,300 make it to graduation day. Thus far, the school has had six graduations.
(Cubaminrex-RHC)