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News :: Miscellaneous |
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Second Round of US Students Study Medicine for Free in Cuba |
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by Pastors for Peace (repost)
(No verified email address)
Phone: 212/926-5757 |
17 Aug 2001
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On Monday, August 20 twenty-eight more youth from eight US states will depart for Havana, Cuba to begin a six-year medical school program. The 28 students will join the 11 others who have already begun their medical studies for a total of 39 US students who have now taken advantage of Fidel Castro's offer to provide 500 free medical school scholarships for US students. |
On Monday, August 20 twenty-eight more youth from eight US states will
depart for Havana, Cuba to begin a six-year medical school program. The 28
students will join the 11 others who have already begun their medical
studies for a total of 39 US students who have now taken advantage of
Fidel Castro's offer to provide 500 free medical school scholarships for
US students. In addition to the US students, there are currently 5,000
students from 23 countries throughout Central and South America, the
Caribbean and Africa studying medicine at Cuba's Latin American School of
Medical Sciences under a similar offer.
The offer to train US students was first extended by Cuban President Fidel
Castro during a June 2000 Congressional Black Caucus delegation organized
by the Interreligious Foundation for Community Organization (IFCO)/Pastors
for Peace. The offer was reiterated during a speech President Castro made
at New York's Riverside Church in September 2001 while in the US attending
the UN Millennium Summit.
"We are prepared to grant a number of scholarships to poor youth who
cannot afford to pay the $200,000 it costs to get a medical degree in the
US," said President Castro.
Under the offer students will receive free tuition, room, board and
textbooks all free of charge. In exchange each student has committed to
practice medicine in an underserved community upon their return to the
United States.
"I feel privileged to have been chosen to be a part of this program," said
Toussaint Reynolds, 23, an Emergency Medical Technician from Massapequa,
NY. "Working with doctors, I feel that many of them lack the compassion
that I think is important to bring to medical care. Studying medicine in
Cuba will reinforce my convictions about the importance of patient care."
Serving as the primary recruitment center for the scholarship program is a
natural link with IFCO's history according to IFCO Executive Director Rev.
Lucius Walker. "IFCO is a 34-year-old ecumenical agency committed to
working with poor communities to train and empower residents to improve
the lives of the people in their communities. This medical school
scholarship program is aimed at educating and serving residents of those
same poor communities that IFCO has worked with over he past three decades."
The third round of students are scheduled to depart for the Caribbean
island next February. |
