(US) Student turns to Cuba for (medical) degree

[Mika]

Student turns to Cuba for degree

Amandla Mitchell decided she wanted to be a doctor while attending Godby High School in Tallahassee and Xavier University in New Orleans. The high cost of medical school threatened, however, to derail her plans.

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"The Cuban government covers all the expenses," says Mitchell, 23, who started her studies in September at the Latin American School of Medical Sciences, in a suburb of Havana.
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The program, started in 1999, trains more than 2,000 students annually - including about 90 Americans - from outside Cuba. All expenses except spending money and travel are paid. The students attend school for six years, then head back to their ative countries to finish residencies.

The only requirement is they spend some of their medical careers providing services to areas where doctors are needed - inner cities or remote, rural locations.

More on the hangup(s) caused by the US gov, the partial resolution, and the wonderful program that Cuba offers here.

[IndyOp]

1. Yep. Pay it Forward. *This* gives me hope. (nt)

[JanMichael]

2. I would imagine that 99% of Americans either did not know this...

...or just read it for the first time today.

We are so assed-backwards...

[Jamison]

3. Good for her!

She'll be a well-trained doctor & she won't be saddled with 6-figure student loan debt upon graduation to boot.

[Mika]

5. Good for Cuba (not Castro)!

Its the Cuban people who provide this via their Ministry of Health, their Drs, educators, researchers, technicians, etc... NOT Castro.

[Sarah Ibarruri]

6. True, but how do you figure there even is a program like this? Castro. nt

[Mika]

7. Its the way that the Cuban people/gov build alliances.

That's why Cuba is part of the Axis of Good.


I've been to Cuba many many times and I can say that there are no more activist and generous people in the world than the Cuban people.

[Ben Ceremos]

9. Mika...

I wish to remind you that the revolution started with Fidel and has been maintained by force of will and vision. Fidel is doing good. This program, along with many others are initiatives of the PCC and the PCC is loyal to the president. Others want to continue to tar Fidel with his intrigues and anti-counter-revolutionary persecutions/prosecutions. Do you honestly think that any of these progressive programs would exist without El Lider Maximo's consent and his struggle against US hegemony? Fidel represents the best hope for the people of developing nations and he puts his political power to use for the benefits of much of the world. I wish people here would begin to consider the issue from some independent position instead of spouting the hackneyed slogans of American fascists and jingoists(NOT you Mika). We could do with more Fidels and less Bushits.

I would also add that the American ideology of "liberty and personal freedom" are amongst the reasons the USA is such an easy mark for conmen. Solidarity begins at home and then it spreads to the world. Liberty talk is only talk in that most in the USA are just as "enslaved" to the mainstream political parties and the "issues" as they define them. No independent political movement...just a lot of disenfranchised people who think they are being protected and their liberties safeguarded. Time to examine the problem more closely. Perhaps capitalism isn't such a powerful system, except in terms of generating opportunities for the capital-holders. Most others seem to get considerably less than liberty...

[Mika]

13. Ben C..

"Do you honestly think that any of these progressive programs would exist without El Lider Maximo's consent and his struggle against US hegemony?"

Yes I do. As you acknowledge (in your extracted quote below), Fidel is the figurehead of the struggle now. A new generation of socially inclined is the impetus behind programs like these. It is the key to their survival, their future -post Fidel. Cubans know this and they are building bridges, not burning them, using constructive methodologies such as Cuba's medical schooling of the poor, and their Operation Miracle for the poor sight impared of the Americas.

"Fidel represents the best hope for the people of developing nations and he puts his political power to use for the benefits of much of the world."

Indeed. Mr Castro is the representative of such hope, but he isn't the be-all end-all of such programs such as the medical training of poorer students. He is just the most prominent and prolific spokesperson for the ever changing revolution that the Cuban people create.


As for the rest of your post.. bravo!

[ShockediSay]

4. Bill Frist's "family business" will not hire this Dr to be

I'll bet.

[Vidar]

8. Cheering a courageous student, a generous country & Castro.

[Judi Lynn]

10. It's good to see another student has enrolled. It's a wonderful plan.

The article mentions something I've never heard: the excellent organization, Pastors for Peace, as well as another, Interreligious Foundation for Community Organization actually are engaged as sponsors in this operation, as well. Good for them. DU'ers may remember Pastors for Peace's yearly caravan collecting computers, medical equipment, etc., etc., even vehicles, and crossing the border at either north or south, and making its way to Cuba, to distribute these things to the organizations and people who need them there.

From the article:

She is aware of the politics involved in her medical training in Cuba; she received an object lesson in international relations when Hurricane Katrina struck the Gulf Coast.

Castro ordered nearly 1,600 doctors to Mitchell's school to assemble a disaster-relief medical team, but his offer of help was rebuffed by the Bush administration.

Mitchell, who held seminars in American culture and language for the assembling physicians, was stunned at the rejection.
(snip/...)

That was a wildly stupid move on _Bush's part. It showed how much he really cared about those victems who needed help so desperately.

[Judi Lynn]

11. Cuba cites 'world class' trail in biotech research

Cuba cites 'world class' trail in biotech research

By Gary Marx, the Chicago Tribune


HAVANA — On the outskirts of Havana sits a cluster of drab buildings that are part of an effort to propel Cuba to the forefront of biotechnology even as its population struggles with blackouts, shortages and crumbling infrastructure.

Known as the Center for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology, or CIGB, the institute is one of 52 government facilities dedicated to human, animal and agricultural research that have recorded a string of successes.

Using more than $1 billion in state funding, Cuban scientists have produced a hepatitis B vaccine sold in more than 30 countries and streptokinase, a potent enzyme that dissolves blood clots and improves the survival rate of heart attack victims. The country also makes recombinant interferon that strengthens the immune system of cancer patients and a meningitis B vaccine.

In the pipeline are products ranging from an injection that closes ulcers and improves circulation in diabetics to vaccines against cholera and hepatitis C, according to Cuban officials.

“We’ve been very impressed by the biotech industry in Cuba,” said Anne Walsh, vice president for communications at GlaxoSmithKline, one of the largest pharmaceutical companies in the world. “It’s world class.”
(snip/...)

http://www.thesouthern.com/articles/2006/01/01/business/doc43b6e887be9f4564996873.txt

[JohnyCanuck]

12. But, but, that's all just cover for their biological warfare experiments

John Bolton tells us.

:rofl:

John Bolton, an evil man, looks headed for a fall. But will he, foaming at the mouth, fall for the right reasons? On May 6, 2002 Bolton, then Undersecretary of State for Arms Control, in a speech to the rightwing Heritage Foundation claimed that Cuba had a program to produce offensive biological weapons. The Bush administration, he declared, “believes Cuba has at least a limited offensive biological warfare research and development effort,” and has “provided dual-use biotechnology to other rogue states.” His talk, entitled “Beyond the Axis of Evil” (recall that the term had been introduced just three months earlier by President Bush in his State of the Union rant), followed charges by anti-Castro Cuban-American organizations that a joint Cuba-Iran pharmaceutical research venture was actually a front for the development of such weapons. The press made a big deal of the talk, the shameless neocon groupie Judith Miller of the New York Times reporting, “Bush administration officials report that the United States believes that Cuba has been experimenting with anthrax and other deadly biological pathogens.”

Cuba, proud of its advanced biotech- and genetic-engineering programs that provide medicines and vaccines at small cost to many Third World countries, called the accusations “vile.” Fidel Castro, planning to host former President Jimmy Carter on a Cuba from May 12 to 17, labeled the allegation “an absolute lie” and offered Carter “together with any experts of choosing” “free and complete access” to any of Cuba’s science centers.

After visiting Cuba’s Center for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology, Carter stated, “With some degree of reluctance I would also like to comment on the allegation of bioterrorism. I do this because these allegations were made, maybe not coincidentally, just before our visit to Cuba.”

He said that U.S. intelligence officials had given him extensive briefings before his visit and that they had told him they had no evidence Cuba was either producing biological weapons or helping other countries to do so. “I asked them specifically, on more than one occasion: ‘Is there any evidence that Cuba has been involved in sharing any information to any other country on Earth that could be used for terrorist purposes?’ And the answer from our experts on intelligence was ‘no.’ ”

http://www.counterpunch.org/leupp04252005.html

[Judi Lynn]

15. I had never heard Judith Miller also helped Bolton spread his Cuba lies

What a shame she's gone, isn't it? How would we end up with people like this in such an influential newspaper?

From the great Counterpunch Bolton article:

On May 15, the day after Carter’s remarks, Secretary of State Colin Powell (who has recently opined Bolton’s UN appointment would be “problematic”) told reporters, “We didn’t say actually had some weapons, but it has the capacity and capability to conduct such research.” The Cuban Foreign Ministry noted with satisfaction in a statement published in Granma, entitled rather cutely “Colin Powell Recognizes that Bolton Lied,” “We appreciate the efforts of Secretary of State Colin Powell to help clear up what happened.” We haven’t heard much about those bioweapons since.
(snip)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

CUBAN MEDICAL ASSISTANCE PROGRAM




US physicians and Cuban doctors exchange medical expertise

~snip~
One of the most exciting aspects of our work in Cuba is "Medical Bridges". Representatives from three of Cuba's leading pediatric hospitals visited our Wilmington, California warehouse to select equipment for their facilities and visit Los Angeles-area pediatric hospitals.

In November 2000, the first of several teams of U. S. physicians traveled to Cuba, teaching and lecturing at the three Cuban hospitals with whom we partner. The physicians, from Children's Hospital in Los Angeles, typically spend one week in Havana exchanging knowledge on the latest techniques and research. Subsequent teams have delivered training and pharmaceuticals.

Our overall objective is to provide Cuba's healthcare system with the materials and the knowledge it needs to reach its potential.

According to Richard Walden, Operation USA's President, "The purpose of this program of medical assistance is to help Cuba's children overcome critical shortages of medical supplies resulting from the 45-year long US trade embargo. We are hopeful that the Congress and the Administration will work together for a saner and more compassionate US policy towards Cuba that will not penalize its children. We regret that humanitarian aid for children is still part of the politics of US-Cuba relations, making relief efforts like ours necessary."
(snip/)

http://www.opusa.org/wherewework/international%20programs/cuba/cuba.html

I would imagine this program has been curtailed after _Bush got his ignorant "Destroy Cuba" program underway.



Nilda Collazo, doctor from Las Tunas, Cuba, examines
Norge, the son of Jesús Menéndez (right), a peasant, at
Los Portones, in July. This is a rural community in
Duaca municipality, on the Corora mountains in state
of Lara, northwestern Venezuela.

[cantstandbush]

14. Says a lot about our economic system, our government, and priorities.

God bless Cuba. They have been sending medical professionals all over the world to help in poverty and dieses stricken area that the rest of world thumbs their noses at. This has been going on since Castro came to power in Cuba where education is free to everyone. And it's a damn good education too. My cousing practiced with a physician trained in Cuba. She says he was one of the best docs she ever worked with.