JAYFORCE

Doctors come out of med school with huge debt to repay. Probably why we “understand” why a trip to the doctor can cost so much in the United States. But wouldn’t it be a boon to making healthcare affordable if doctors could graduate debt-free? Well… somebody’s already doing that… Cuba!

All too often though, we want to vilify those (like Cuba) we are told to treat as the enemy. Remember the uproar over Bey and Jigga’s trip to Cuba (y’all gone learn today…wrote a song ’bout it)? You’dve thought it was the missile crisis all over again. But fortunately, to balance bad-mouthing of some, we have folks who declare that there are at least some things we can appreciate about the neighbor 90 miles south of South Florida (USA). For instance, check out what the Black Left Unity blog hipped us to about another bright spot of Cuba’s medical outreach.

Cuba’s Latin American School of Medicine (LASM). A few years ago member of the USA Congressional Black Caucus visited Cuba and noted the small amount number of doctor available in Black and poor areas in American. When Rep. Bennie Thompson said his Mississippi district needed doctors, then President Fidel Castro announced scholarships for youth from under-served communities in the U.S.

It was later decided that people should apply through IFCO/Pastors for Peace. Currently 146 U.S. students study at LASM with full scholarships, including 16 in the their new class. Forty seven students have now graduated and two are residents in U.S. hospitals now. After the earthquake disaster in Haiti in February of 2010, many of the LASM graduates volunteered to go the serve there.

Currently there are two Detroit (Michigan, USA) students attending LASM on a full scholarship. Contact us at IFCO
418 W 145 Street
Harlem, NY 10031
www.ifconews.org
ifco@igc.org
(212) 926-5757

And if you don’t know, now you know. So, next time somebody spouts that ‘Communist Cuba the bad guys’ stuff … You hit ’em with the link to this story. Oh, and tell them the US is actually doing some ‘bad medicine’ down that way. Remember the Gitmo force-feeding? But we’ll keep this peace positive. Thanks for the good medicine, Cuba.

Check out more video after the jump, including a great piece from PBS Newshour.

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