The recent renewed diplomatic relations between Cuba and the United States has created many new possibilities. The Caribbean island country has been at the forefront of medical ingenuity for the past 50 years, and now students from the U.S. are receiving a cost-free opportunity to receive similar training.
With many U.S. medical institutions practicing economic apartheid and pricing a certain segment of society out of the industry, Cuba’s debt-free Latin American School of Medicine is offering qualifying inner-city youths an opportunity to further their studies in that competitive field. The only condition upon graduation is that they return and aid local needy areas.
“A medical education in the U.S. can cost more than $200,000 … Cuba is interested in providing medical training to qualified students who are committed to working in medically underserved communities but would not be able to do so if they graduated with hundreds of thousands of dollars of debt,” stated Cuba’s then President Fidel Castro during the 2000 Millennium Summit in New York City.
Despite rampant propaganda by the mass media, Cuba’s socialist system has been deemed to be one of the most progressive and humanitarian systems in the world. Its medical schools are world renowned for training students who have gone on to have very prosperous careers, as well as providing much humanitarian care worldwide.
Cuba has opened its doors to Black and Hispanics from impoverished communities throughout the U.S. in an effort to advance the conditions of Black Americans, as well as to culturally diversify the medical arena.
Members from the Congressional Black Caucus visited Cuba several years ago and revealed the miniscule number of medical professionals of color available in economically challenged communities in America. Castro announced that scholarships would be available for youth from impoverished areas in the U.S., subsequent to Rep. Bennie Thompson’s plea for medical aide in his Mississippi district.
“The LASM offers a life-changing opportunity possibility for some of our kids here in Vallejo,” said Diane Blackmon Bailey, founder of the Vallejo Black Empowerment Think Tank. “VBETT will facilitate locally to assist in getting the word out, identifying potential students as early as middle school to start the mentoring, grooming process and assisting with any questions that Vallejo parents, educators or students may have. What a once -in-a-lifetime moment. I know we have many future doctors here!”
The initial crop of U.S. students entered the pioneering program at LASM in 2001. By spring 2010, 122 students from 29 different states, plus Puerto Rico and Washington D.C., had enrolled, with 33 of them graduating with MD degrees. Students continue to enroll each August.
Currently, 146 U.S. students, with full scholarships, are enrolled at LASM, including 16 in their new class. Forty-seven have graduated and two are residents in U.S. hospitals now. After the February 2010 earthquake disaster in Haiti, many LASM graduates volunteered to serve there. The program’s credentials are being honored in U.S. hospitals.
Those interested in the program should contact the Interrelations Foundation for Community Organization/Pastors for Peace organization, 418 W. 145 St., New York, NY 10031. Visit www.ifconews.org, email ifco@igc.org or call 212-926-5757.
