First and foremost, Thanks Gail, Thanks to the Cuban people and Thanks to the Cuban government for giving so much to the world, especially to the forgotten, ignored and despised.
It is easy for those who have never been hungry, who have never faced health challenges without professional help or death, to use this incredible humanitarian project, to inject their anti Cuba venom, doubts and division.
It is fashionable for these vindictive hypocrites, who has never asked the simple question of "how can I help to make this program and physicians better or expressed any willingness to donate a syringe, bandage or suture, to sit in judgment in the air-cooled mansions to detract those risking their lives in the most intricate and dangerous places.
Interestingly enough, these Cuban physicians described before as worthless, once lured from their posts around the world with a bag of gold, once in Miami, those practicing medicine becomes the physicians of their detractors and the others who do not make it, are left on their own to drive a tractor trailer, take money behind restaurant counters or shelving at supermarkets.
Lured from their posts by http://www.state.gov/p/wha/rls/fs/2009/115414.htm they are left like spoiled fruits to rot.
These criminal acts against the poor and political systems they despise, is not new. Following is my personal life experience with the same individuals and their forefathers: http://www.afrocubaweb.com/albertojonesdiazbalart.htm
Our small organization, the Caribbean American Children Foundation, cacf2@aol.com, do not demean, but help those in our region.
Well said Alberto. And many congratulations to Gail for an excellent talk. The Havana Medical School is indeed unique and a beacon of hope for improving the health care of people in low-resource settings.
To all of those wondering why the hell there are so many hateful comments about Cuban doctors in Brazil, here's a brief explanation:
For the last 12 years, Brazilians have lived under the rule of a center-left government led by PT, our labor party. Even though life standards have risen, inequality lowered and democracy improved, our traditional middle class has kept its ground and continued to irrationally hate the labor party and everything it does.
This traditional middle class is the very same one which has some sort of English proficiency and access to TED talks, so that's why you guys are only seeing the hate.
Truth be told, Cubans are actually doing a wonderful job around our poorest regions, which generally upsets a very influential group among Brazilian traditional middle class: Brazilian doctors. And a huge turf war (fed by middle class hate against PT) is what all of this really comes down to.
None of which has anything to do with Ms. Gail Reed's talk, which again goes to show how obsessed these guys are. To them, praise to Cuban health care is a horrifying thought because it might, perhaps, in some very small way, serve as an argument in favor of our government's initiative. Truly horrifying.
I am Brazilian too and I can confirm every word of the testament above
Renato Bennemann
I am also brazilian and testify the rightness of the upper assertives. Look to the misunderstanding and the prejudice exposed on such comments: "cuban dictatorship", "how they can bring doctors if they don't have freezers", etc... and the absence of the very sucessfull experiments with cubans doctors in Venezuela, Bolívia, Paquistan, Haiti and several countries around the world... Brazil and Paraguay are two of the most controled by few and unequal countries of the world. This is a clear example of the class and political hate so common to the elitistical and conservatrice minds of many latin americans. Very, very sad. We have to fight against our chronical problems, related to human dignity, and also against people fighting against that, due to prejudice and professional favours. Medicine, in Brazil, is just a sport for the richest and egotistical minority. Even the private clinics are lousy and, of course, expensive... But brazilian physicians just don't care, and now they are scared to the bone with the "competition" coming from that tiny island, with which Brazil is so often compared when ruled by the left-wing to the point of forgetting that the exact equivalence, be in size, power, economic resources and so on, is with giants like China and Russia. We call this kind of utterly senseless comparisons (that ones with Cuba or Venezuela, or even Argentina, for example) of "mongrel syndrome". It is attributed to the people in general, but it's far more common to the mindscape above mentioned. So common that I think it's a mental illness. But our physicians are really incapable of such diagnosis...
To all of those wondering why the hell there are so many hateful comments about Cuban doctors in Brazil, here's a brief explanation: For the last 12 years, Brazilians have lived under the rule of a center-left government led by PT, our labor party. Even though life standards have risen, inequality lowered and democracy improved, our traditional middle class has kept its ground and continued to irrationally hate the labor party and everything it does. This traditional middle class is the very same one which has some sort of English proficiency and access to TED talks, so that's why you guys are only seeing the hate. Truth be told, Cubans are actually doing a wonderful job around our poorest regions, which generally upsets a very influential group among Brazilian traditional middle class: Brazilian doctors. And a huge turf war (fed by middle class hate against PT) is what all of this really comes down to. None of which has anything to do with Ms. Gail Reed's talk, which again goes to show how obsessed these guys are. To them, praise to Cuban health care is a horrifying thought because it might, perhaps, in some very small way, serve as an argument in favor of our government's initiative. Truly horrifying.
Bernardo Ramos
Time is the master of reason.
PT was overthrown by overwheming corruption. Cuban doctors were far less skilled than local doctors and Cuba sent 1 party police member dor every 9 doctors to keep an eye and avoid defection.
Muchas gracias! I'm an American physician on my way to Cuba to see for myself. Would love to meet Ms. Reed and ELAM faculty & students. There are never perfect solutions to any problem, but the idea of training doctors for under served areas was underway in the US as the National Health Service Corps, of which I participated, until gutted by the Reagan regime. Bash Castro & Cuba all you want, these stats speak for themselves & I have colleagues who crossed paths with dedicated Cuban doctors in unlikely places like an AIDS orphanage in Zimbabwe. Viva ELAM!
Look to our counterparts in Brazil to see the lack of sense and the absence of knowledge judging so impressive and humanist professionals. May your and many other american doctors example be a turning point for our dominant mongrel-mind (explanation right down) medical society. I know many cubans from may travels around latin America, and I was in Cuba twice. They are really a divergent and necessary stage of evolution for us to consider.
Beautiful speech, but it's away from reality. How ELAM can graduated good doctors when the Cuban health system is so chaotic? See by yourself, this is only one sample in Havana Hospital where dozens of mental patients died of hunger and hypothermia in 2010. http://goo.gl/MQYUPm If you are not able to take care of your own people, How can you take care of the rest of the World. Cuba medical school graduates doctors like a factory makes shoes. The doctors are sent to serve in poor areas outside Cuba where people probably have never seen a doctor. That is true, the problem is they used to die without seeing a doctor and now they die with a doctor assistance. Cuban government makes money exporting and using Cuban doctors as modern slaves. At the same time it help to create the idea of how sympathetic they are. There are hidden political intentions behind the Cuban government "altruism". I don't care what Gail Reed or the California Medical Board says. I always check my doctors background and I would never choose one graduated from Cuba. Sorry. I believe in the message only if at least I can trust the messenger. Who is Gail Reed? Searching the Internet I found that "Gail Reed, is a longtime admirer of the Cuban revolution, married to the Cuban official who served as ambassador to Grenada in the early 1980s when U.S. troops liberated the island from hardline communists who had executed the leftist Prime Minister Maurice Bishop. She's also worked at Granma, Cuba’s official communist party newspaper". I think that this is a case of a big conflict of interests.
I live in Venezuela where many of these graduated students have been sent. The experience here is that they would be more like a paramedic or nurse, never a doctor and I am sure that by any international standards they could not use this designation.
To become and receive a doctor diploma in Venezuela you need over 10 years of studies and practice. Worldwide to be called a doctor you need many years of studies too, so I dont understand how or why Gail Reed, calls these groups of graduated students "doctors".
I live in Venezuela where many of these graduated students have been sent. The experience here is that they would be more like a paramedic or nurse, never a doctor and I am sure that by any international standards they could not use this designation. To become and receive a doctor diploma in Venezuela you need over 10 years of studies and practice. Worldwide to be called a doctor you need many years of studies too, so I dont understand how or why Gail Reed, calls these groups of graduated students "doctors".
Javier Caceres
She does mention accreditation in her talk and says the California Medical Board accredited the school (ELAM) after rigorous inspection, and that its students are accepted in residencies worldwide.
She does mention accreditation in her talk and says the California Medical Board accredited the school (ELAM) after rigorous inspection, and that its students are accepted in residencies worldwide.
Jon Peter Lagos
I am not sure. I suppose that the California Medical Board has recognized this school and this is good news. But in order to practice in the USA this is not enough. You have to pass very difficult tests in order to have your license to practice. California is the most difficult.
I am not sure. I suppose that the California Medical Board has recognized this school and this is good news. But in order to practice in the USA this is not enough. You have to pass very difficult tests in order to have your license to practice. California is the most difficult.
Marcio Pinheiro
It is not about tests, many countries demand a period of residency to give a license, no matter how good their education was. ELAM being fully accredited allows any of their students to apply for residency anywhere in the US. That is, ELAM is equal to any medical school in the US (officially, reputation is subjective, of course).
It is not about tests, many countries demand a period of residency to give a license, no matter how good their education was. ELAM being fully accredited allows any of their students to apply for residency anywhere in the US. That is, ELAM is equal to any medical school in the US (officially, reputation is subjective, of course).
Jon Peter Lagos
Jon, Shawki in another comment brought up a search from Wikipedia and this is what it said,..."qualified US graduates of the Latin American School of Medicine are eligible to apply for residency placements in any state of the US" So its not just any ELAM graduate that can apply for a residency in any US state, you need to be a qualified and a US person, not a foreigner. ( who knows how a qualified person is defined )
Jon, Shawki in another comment brought up a search from Wikipedia and this is what it said,..."qualified US graduates of the Latin American School of Medicine are eligible to apply for residency placements in any state of the US" So its not just any ELAM graduate that can apply for a residency in any US state, you need to be a qualified and a US person, not a foreigner. ( who knows how a qualified person is defined )
Javier Caceres
Maybe we are using the word residency diffrently. Sorry, I was thinking about Medical Residency as post-graduation medical training. If you are talking about being accepted as redident in the USA (Green Card) let me confess that I do not know about this. If this is the case I apologize for the excellent conferencist.
It is not about tests, many countries demand a period of residency to give a license, no matter how good their education was. ELAM being fully accredited allows any of their students to apply for residency anywhere in the US. That is, ELAM is equal to any medical school in the US (officially, reputation is subjective, of course).
Jon Peter Lagos
Not true. It is very diffult to find a residency in the USA. I went to this many years ago and today I help young colleagues try this in the United States. The tests start in the country of origin. And there are more. They must first re-validade their diplomas and have a medical license there. Each State has its Board and doctors have license to practice in the State, but has been better today. Very, very difficult. I know two. One is my friend and is in Alabama. After his license he had to apply for a residency. Very difficult! Finally he found one. It took him years. And he was graduated from a Recognized Medical School in Brazil.
I am not sure. I suppose that the California Medical Board has recognized this school and this is good news. But in order to practice in the USA this is not enough. You have to pass very difficult tests in order to have your license to practice. California is the most difficult.
Marcio Pinheiro
In Venezuela exists a Medical Board which you need to belong to in order to practice as a doctor and the Venezuelan board has not approved them. One of the requisites is to have graduated from a Venezuelan Medical school or have studied in another country and get equivalences, and Cubas are not good .
Because the reason of having Cuban medical practitioners is a political decision, the Government does not say a thing and the Medical Board is also mute because if they press too much, Government by law might assign them a doctors diploma.
To answer Marcio Pinheiro, these practitioners are not free, they are under a program of exchange or barter for oil, where the economic sense of the whole pact is ridiculous but its a political issue, not a rational economic decision, but this is another issue. I read the cubans are also in Brazil and not for free either.
In Venezuela exists a Medical Board which you need to belong to in order to practice as a doctor and the Venezuelan board has not approved them. One of the requisites is to have graduated from a Venezuelan Medical school or have studied in another country and get equivalences, and Cubas are not good . Because the reason of having Cuban medical practitioners is a political decision, the Government does not say a thing and the Medical Board is also mute because if they press too much, Government by law might assign them a doctors diploma. To answer Marcio Pinheiro, these practitioners are not free, they are under a program of exchange or barter for oil, where the economic sense of the whole pact is ridiculous but its a political issue, not a rational economic decision, but this is another issue. I read the cubans are also in Brazil and not for free either.
Javier Caceres
From Wikipedia:The mission of ELAM is to make competent and cooperative doctors with the degree of MD (doctor of medicine), the same degree which is offered to medical graduates all over the Americas. The Latin American School of Medicine is officially recognized by the Educational Commission for Foreign Medical Graduates (ECFMG) and the World Health Organization. It is fully accredited by the Medical Board of California, which has the strictest US standards — which means that qualified US graduates of the Latin American School of Medicine are eligible to apply for residency placements in any state of the US.
From Wikipedia:The mission of ELAM is to make competent and cooperative doctors with the degree of MD (doctor of medicine), the same degree which is offered to medical graduates all over the Americas. The Latin American School of Medicine is officially recognized by the Educational Commission for Foreign Medical Graduates (ECFMG) and the World Health Organization. It is fully accredited by the Medical Board of California, which has the strictest US standards — which means that qualified US graduates of the Latin American School of Medicine are eligible to apply for residency placements in any state of the US.
Shawki Shawki
Dear Shawki: Thanks for taking the intrest in looking up in Wikipedia in which it says ..."the same degree which is offered to medical graduates all over the Americas"... In Venezuela is not the case, the Venezuelan Board standards do not approve that their studies competence and studies are good enough to be called an MD here. Wikipedia also says ..." which means that qualified US graduates of the Latin American School of Medicine are eligible to apply for residency placements in any state of the US." See looks like there are two conditions you have to be "qualified" and also be a US person to be eligible. This probably means that if you are from Guatemala, to mention a country, and you graduate in Cuba, you would not be able to apply for residency placement in any state. You cant imagine how difficult is for a Venezuelan MD with all the studies to practice in the US, the English language proficiency needed and then the number and type of exams is such that the time spent to do all this is longer than what it takes to make a Cuban Doctor.
If you have the time, Google pictures from Cuban hospitals and see how they their nationals live, so if these hospitals are where they learn,....
Coming back to my first comments, I would ask Gail Reed that if these graduates can practice right out of school in the US then she can call them doctors, otherwise I see a double standard. If they are not good enough to be called a doctor in the US health care system, why would they be good enough to have a title of doctor anywhere else ?
Dear Shawki: Thanks for taking the intrest in looking up in Wikipedia in which it says ..."the same degree which is offered to medical graduates all over the Americas"... In Venezuela is not the case, the Venezuelan Board standards do not approve that their studies competence and studies are good enough to be called an MD here. Wikipedia also says ..." which means that qualified US graduates of the Latin American School of Medicine are eligible to apply for residency placements in any state of the US." See looks like there are two conditions you have to be "qualified" and also be a US person to be eligible. This probably means that if you are from Guatemala, to mention a country, and you graduate in Cuba, you would not be able to apply for residency placement in any state. You cant imagine how difficult is for a Venezuelan MD with all the studies to practice in the US, the English language proficiency needed and then the number and type of exams is such that the time spent to do all this is longer than what it takes to make a Cuban Doctor. If you have the time, Google pictures from Cuban hospitals and see how they their nationals live, so if these hospitals are where they learn,.... Coming back to my first comments, I would ask Gail Reed that if these graduates can practice right out of school in the US then she can call them doctors, otherwise I see a double standard. If they are not good enough to be called a doctor in the US health care system, why would they be good enough to have a title of doctor anywhere else ?
Javier Caceres
Javier You say; " See looks like there are two conditions you have to be "qualified" and also be a US person to be eligible."
You need only be an ELAM grad with an immigration work permit.
In the medical field the term "residency placement" mean to become a staff medical practitioner at a hospital/clinic/etc.
In many US medical facilities having a Spanish speaking doctor (all ELAM grads speak Spanish) on staff is a plus.
Javier You say; " See looks like there are two conditions you have to be "qualified" and also be a US person to be eligible." You need only be an ELAM grad with an immigration work permit. In the medical field the term "residency placement" mean to become a staff medical practitioner at a hospital/clinic/etc. In many US medical facilities having a Spanish speaking doctor (all ELAM grads speak Spanish) on staff is a plus.
Shawki Shawki
Thanks Shawki for your inputwhich elevated the level of discussion.
From Wikipedia:The mission of ELAM is to make competent and cooperative doctors with the degree of MD (doctor of medicine), the same degree which is offered to medical graduates all over the Americas. The Latin American School of Medicine is officially recognized by the Educational Commission for Foreign Medical Graduates (ECFMG) and the World Health Organization. It is fully accredited by the Medical Board of California, which has the strictest US standards — which means that qualified US graduates of the Latin American School of Medicine are eligible to apply for residency placements in any state of the US.
Shawki Shawki
If it is medical residency placements, this is not true. iunsofar as I know. Sorry.
I live in Venezuela where many of these graduated students have been sent. The experience here is that they would be more like a paramedic or nurse, never a doctor and I am sure that by any international standards they could not use this designation. To become and receive a doctor diploma in Venezuela you need over 10 years of studies and practice. Worldwide to be called a doctor you need many years of studies too, so I dont understand how or why Gail Reed, calls these groups of graduated students "doctors".
Javier Caceres
Javier, good point. I have the Veteran's Healthcare benefits. To handle the overloaded clinics we usually have Nurse-Providers instead of Doctors. There is little difference in the two. The Doctors may not agree, but after 40 years of experience I'd take a Nurse-Provider in an eye-wink. Some are even prettier than the Doctors. :)
Diplomas are a piece of paper on a wall. Well earned by most, but not all. Like everything else, there are good and bad. Years of study cannot change what a man or a woman is, only educate them.
We are talking about sending graduates into the field to practice and to hone their skills in the real world, in the world of poor people. There is only one way to give love freely, these new Doctors are the people who do that. We need to praise them.
I give a big thumbs up to Gail Reed's praise of Havana’s Latin American Medical School, which trains global physicians to serve the local communities that need them most.
Brazil created the More Doctors Program to bring doctors from other countries, in order to expand access to health care in underserved areas of the country. However, it was later discovered that it was just a disguised way to import Cuban doctors to help the Cuban dictatorship. Today in Brazil there are 11,400 Cuban doctors working in a nearby slave regime conditions: 1, the monthly salary of each doctor is 10 thousand reais (USD 4,100.00), which is not received directly by them. This amount is passed on to PAHO, the Pan American Health Organization that transfers the money to Cuba. The Cuban government, then, through its embassy in Brasilia, paid over $ 400.00 for each physician; 2-Family doctors cannot accompany them in Brazil; 3 These doctors are prevented from leaving the program because they are not allowed to practice medicine outside the program; 4-A Cuban medical Ramona Rodriguez abandoned and denounced the program to the press. It was discovered then that PAHO had not submitted the employment contract to the Ministry of Labor in Brazil, citing confidentiality. A civil investigation was installed, and the conclusion is that the conditions of Cuban doctors in Brazil affront Brazilian labor laws. The conclusion is that Cuba uses its doctors as a source of foreign exchange for their country, and this can be characterized as trafficking in people from a disguised form; In time, the medical Ramona Rodriguez was granted asylum in the United States to avoid the same fate that had the Cuban boxers. Guillermo Rigoundeaux and Erislandy Lara, who during the Pan American Games in Rio 2007 sought asylum in Brazil and were deported to their country. Fidel treated them as deserters soldiers. In 2009 they were admitted in USA.
All you said is true but we must recognize that Brazilian doctors are not trained to work in the very poor areas without support that doctors need. Cuba is trying to form doctors who are and this may be good. I suppose that Cubans sent these doctors for free(?) in calamity areas and this should be comended if it is true. But indeed it is true that Braziian bought them from Cuba at a monthly cost payed directly to Cuba government, who then send some of this money to the Cuban doctors. One of them dicovered that she was earning much less that the the doctors that Brazil imported from other countries and were paid directly, not to their governments. In Brazil people should have the same pay for the same work. She protested and left the program, deserting. This was all over the Brazilian papers. Insofar as the Cuban boxers, this was true, the Brazilain government, simpatico to Cuba, sent them back when they asked aylums. Let me confess that I do like dictatorships from the right and from the left. But this is not what we are discussing.
Brazil created the More Doctors Program to bring doctors from other countries, in order to expand access to health care in underserved areas of the country. However, it was later discovered that it was just a disguised way to import Cuban doctors to help the Cuban dictatorship. Today in Brazil there are 11,400 Cuban doctors working in a nearby slave regime conditions: 1, the monthly salary of each doctor is 10 thousand reais (USD 4,100.00), which is not received directly by them. This amount is passed on to PAHO, the Pan American Health Organization that transfers the money to Cuba. The Cuban government, then, through its embassy in Brasilia, paid over $ 400.00 for each physician; 2-Family doctors cannot accompany them in Brazil; 3 These doctors are prevented from leaving the program because they are not allowed to practice medicine outside the program; 4-A Cuban medical Ramona Rodriguez abandoned and denounced the program to the press. It was discovered then that PAHO had not submitted the employment contract to the Ministry of Labor in Brazil, citing confidentiality. A civil investigation was installed, and the conclusion is that the conditions of Cuban doctors in Brazil affront Brazilian labor laws. The conclusion is that Cuba uses its doctors as a source of foreign exchange for their country, and this can be characterized as trafficking in people from a disguised form; In time, the medical Ramona Rodriguez was granted asylum in the United States to avoid the same fate that had the Cuban boxers. Guillermo Rigoundeaux and Erislandy Lara, who during the Pan American Games in Rio 2007 sought asylum in Brazil and were deported to their country. Fidel treated them as deserters soldiers. In 2009 they were admitted in USA.
Osvaldo Pasqual Castanha
Cuba sent those doctors all world around, they may set the conditions previously to them. Cubans imigrating and searching for asylum are a common reality - so common than guatemalan, mexican and Minas Gerais migrations to U.S. - but with the addition that the island has a very hard panorama easily misunderstood outside. Few people really KNOW cuban reality, you are not an exception. Understanding profoundly the causes why they are what they are is a difficult task, and talking about them and how "evil" are their leaders is just very, very easy... We still explore slave work, from bolivians to nordestinos and from indigenous to even children, and dozens of people die in front of our worst and best hospitals for lack of beds or money, but we cannot admit these facts of our daily brutality. Cubans, on the contrary, fought as slaves for independence and as a revolutionary and united people for liberty from U.S. claws, and they were victorious. Twice. This is such a conquest we cannot even imagine in the land of Casa Grande e Senzala or Terra em Transe (Entranced Earth). Their society is not perfect, for sure, but they advanced with such a speed in areas that seemed unimaginable... You MUST consider that as a background on your judgement. If that inflict brazilian law, maybe we should note the special régime for these doctors to come here, even so because the amount paid here may seem ridiculous, but we are dealing with a cuban equivalent. They can pay that if the agrément, to use a french and diplomatic expression, is on such basis, but having to assure, with brazilian authorities, optimal conditions of work, nutrition, dwelling and so on. "Trafficking people" just doesn't get to the point, you are misfitting everything related to the subject and judging cuban affairs like a child. Please, return the conversation to a good level. With the ebola crisis right now, cubans are trafficking people!! Do you really BELIEVE that!! It's just ridiculous to hear such a thing.
I am glad Gail Reed’s TEDMED message is out there for all to hear because far to few people know about the Latin American Medical School (ELAM) in Cuba. This is a model for many countries and has the potential to deliver medical care where needed most: in poor countries where access to health care is very limited or impossible. It is also a model unfortunately ignored in “rich” countries like the U.S. When I attended an international global health conference in Havana in 2009, WHO Director-General Margaret Chan had just visited ELAM and praised the school for its part in correcting an imbalance in the way medical care is provided in the world. “I know of no other medical school that offers students so much, at no charge,” she said. “I know of no other medical school with an admissions policy that gives first priority to candidates who come from poor communities and know, first-hand, what it means to live without access to essential medical care.” She said their dedication to the practice of medicine and the basic values of people-centred care showed they were guided by patients’ needs, not by their ability to pay. Those comments were verified by a medical student I met at ELAM who was from New Jersey and had no hope of paying for medical school in the U.S. Like all ELAM students, he was committed to returning to his country and practicing his skills as a doctor in the community where he was raised. People throughout the world, including in the U.S., are fortunate for the doctors who have been trained in Cuba and then return home to practice in places other physicians will not.
To all who want to see Cuban health care for themselves, see www.medicc.org for opportunity to visit Cuba, talk with health professionals, patients and ordinary Cubans. Many stories now also coming out about Cuban nurses and docs in West Africa, sending 461. I just visited mock field hospitals in Havana, where WHO and others, including three from USA, are providing intensive training for all going to Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea. The team may grow as time goes on. More volunteers are needed from EVERY country! In addition, hopefully this horrible epidemic will at least give an opportunity for US and Cuba to work together....Cuban docs and scientists already work closely with colleagues in most countries, especially in Global South.
40 years ago, I experienced the US Corporate Health Insurance approach to medical care. It was a time of Unions and Employee Benefits.
A US Government Retirement Act in 1974 gave Banks new pension plan deposit/savings available to use for their expansion into the medical colleges, where they could offer a Doctor-Trainee a $100 thousand dollar 'Line of Credit', repayable after Graduation. (Some of you may see a similarity with the US Government's current school loan program.)
As a result, today the US has trained Doctors, (in numerous new fields) with access to unique diagnostic equipment, and all kinds of drugs. Their patients have access to medical care, when Corporate Health Insurers have agreed, in advance, to pay for it.
If payment is refused by Corporate Health Insurers, State Welfare charity becomes available, and unfortunately so does the Achilles' heel of US Doctor's. Some Doctors refuse to accept 'new' patients due to Doctors having to accept a lower payment scale as mandated by the State. Some Hospitals are perhaps the greatest offenders in this area, using a more sophisticated approach, changing Doctors and consecutive delays.
Nary a house-call is made these days, with the possible exception of one or two heroic individual Doctors in remote areas.
So, in the US we have medical care, with a poorly designed penalty program for non-purchase of Corporate Health Insurance. It gets the job done.
Cuba is doing a great job. We need to remember that.
I'm an American physician on my way to Cuba to see for myself. Would love to meet Ms. Reed and ELAM faculty & students.
There are never perfect solutions to any problem, but the idea of training doctors for under served areas was underway in the US as the National Health Service Corps, of which I participated, until gutted by the Reagan regime.
Bash Castro & Cuba all you want, these stats speak for themselves & I have colleagues who crossed paths with dedicated Cuban doctors in unlikely places like an AIDS orphanage in Zimbabwe.
Viva ELAM!
If you are not able to take care of your own people, How can you take care of the rest of the World.
Cuba medical school graduates doctors like a factory makes shoes. The doctors are sent to serve in poor areas outside Cuba where people probably have never seen a doctor. That is true, the problem is they used to die without seeing a doctor and now they die with a doctor assistance. Cuban government makes money exporting and using Cuban doctors as modern slaves. At the same time it help to create the idea of how sympathetic they are. There are hidden political intentions behind the Cuban government "altruism".
I don't care what Gail Reed or the California Medical Board says. I always check my doctors background and I would never choose one graduated from Cuba. Sorry.
I believe in the message only if at least I can trust the messenger. Who is Gail Reed? Searching the Internet I found that "Gail Reed, is a longtime admirer of the Cuban revolution, married to the Cuban official who served as ambassador to Grenada in the early 1980s when U.S. troops liberated the island from hardline communists who had executed the leftist Prime Minister Maurice Bishop. She's also worked at Granma, Cuba’s official communist party newspaper". I think that this is a case of a big conflict of interests.
ELAM being fully accredited allows any of their students to apply for residency anywhere in the US.
That is, ELAM is equal to any medical school in the US (officially, reputation is subjective, of course).
I have the Veteran's Healthcare benefits. To handle the overloaded clinics we usually have Nurse-Providers instead of Doctors. There is little difference in the two. The Doctors may not agree, but after 40 years of experience I'd take a Nurse-Provider in an eye-wink. Some are even prettier than the Doctors. :)
1, the monthly salary of each doctor is 10 thousand reais (USD 4,100.00), which is not received directly by them. This amount is passed on to PAHO, the Pan American Health Organization that transfers the money to Cuba. The Cuban government, then, through its embassy in Brasilia, paid over $ 400.00 for each physician;
2-Family doctors cannot accompany them in Brazil;
3 These doctors are prevented from leaving the program because they are not allowed to practice medicine outside the program;
4-A Cuban medical Ramona Rodriguez abandoned and denounced the program to the press. It was discovered then that PAHO had not submitted the employment contract to the Ministry of Labor in Brazil, citing confidentiality. A civil investigation was installed, and the conclusion is that the conditions of Cuban doctors in Brazil affront Brazilian labor laws. The conclusion is that Cuba uses its doctors as a source of foreign exchange for their country, and this can be characterized as trafficking in people from a disguised form;
In time, the medical Ramona Rodriguez was granted asylum in the United States to avoid the same fate that had the Cuban boxers. Guillermo Rigoundeaux and Erislandy Lara, who during the Pan American Games in Rio 2007 sought asylum in Brazil and were deported to their country. Fidel treated them as deserters soldiers. In 2009 they were admitted in USA.
If that inflict brazilian law, maybe we should note the special régime for these doctors to come here, even so because the amount paid here may seem ridiculous, but we are dealing with a cuban equivalent. They can pay that if the agrément, to use a french and diplomatic expression, is on such basis, but having to assure, with brazilian authorities, optimal conditions of work, nutrition, dwelling and so on. "Trafficking people" just doesn't get to the point, you are misfitting everything related to the subject and judging cuban affairs like a child. Please, return the conversation to a good level. With the ebola crisis right now, cubans are trafficking people!! Do you really BELIEVE that!! It's just ridiculous to hear such a thing.