From: "mart" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Date: Tue, 30 Jan 2001 00:39:02 -0500 To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: [CubaNews] Fw: Don't let politics cloud Cuba offer > USA TODAY > > January 30, 2001, Tuesday, FIRST EDITION > > Don't let politics cloud Cuba offer > > DeWayne Wickham > > HAVANA > > HAVANA -- In the two years since opening its Latin American School of > Medical Sciences, Cuba has filled its classrooms with more than 3,400 > students from 23 countries. Most of them come from Central and South > America. A few of the students are from nations in sub-Saharan Africa. > > The multinational makeup of the student body is reflected in a display of > flags in the lobby of one of the school's administrative buildings. At > the > center of this array is a space for the next flag Cuba hopes to add to > this > mix -- that of the United States. > > 500 school slots available > > Late last year, the Cuba government offered to provide a free > medical-school > education to 500 U.S. students -- half of these slots for > African-Americans > and the rest to be divided between Hispanics and Native Americans. To > qualify, students must be economically disadvantaged and willing to > return > home after graduation and practice medicine for at least five years in > impoverished communities. > > The Cuban proposal is an act of medical diplomacy. In the 41 years since > Fidel Castro came to power, Cuba has excelled in the production of > doctors. > This nation of 11 million people has 21 medical schools that have > increased > the number of Cuban doctors from a little more than 3,000 after this > nation's communist government took hold to more than 60,000 today, Cuban > officials say. As the ranks of Cuba's homegrown doctors increased, the > health of this nation spiraled upward. The infant mortality rate here is > low, and the life expectancy rate is high. During the 1990s, Cuba sent > more > than 20,000 doctors to Third World countries. Castro hopes this export of > health care -- not Marxist-Leninist philosophy -- will win his government > increased support among the people of these nations. > > Cuba's offer to U.S. students, no doubt, is rooted in the same thinking. > Next month, the director of Cuba's international medical school, Dr. Juan > Carrizo Estevez, hopes to travel to the United States to meet with black > college officials and the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) to discuss > Cuba's > offer. Last year when Ricardo Alarcon, the president of Cuba's National > Assembly, sought to attend a CBC function at which he planned to announce > the offer to train African-American doctors, Bill Clinton's State > Department > refused to issue him a visa. Let's hope the Bush administration will not > do > the same to Estevez. > > Black community needs help > > The health-care delivery system in far too many U.S. black communities > rivals that of Third World nations. Infant mortality and life expectancy > rates among African-Americans pale in comparison to those Cubans now > experience. Even when African-Americans have access to doctors -- the > vast > majority of whom are white -- many receive disparate medical treatment. > Several medical studies have found that doctors are more likely to refer > whites than African-Americans for medical treatments that could save > their > lives. > > Cuba's proposal won't solve these problems, but it could potentially > lessen > their impact. While Cuba's offer might send a chill up the spines of > those > who still view Castro's regime as a Cold War enemy, it is an appealing > idea > to many African-Americans who view the U.S. economic embargo against Cuba > as > a mean-spirited policy. More importantly, the embargo's rules don't > prohibit > African-American students from accepting the free medical-school > education > Cuba is offering. People are permitted to go to Cuba for academic > purposes, > as long as they do not exceed the spending limits the Treasury Department > has imposed on U.S. citizens who come here legally. > > While Cuban officials won't say as much, they hope their offer will help > loosen the economic noose the United States has had around their > country's > neck for four decades. That's understandable. Good deeds should be > rewarded. > Cuba's offer to train hundreds of African-Americans as doctors is a > helping > hand that shouldn't be made the latest casualty of this country's > Soviet-era > policy toward this Caribbean island nation. > ---------------------------------------- > Courtesy of CBIACS > ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ---------------------~-~> eGroups is now Yahoo! 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