Training of health system human resources is a priority in Cuba, says official

HAVANA, Cuba, Apr 14 (acn) The formation of human resources in health is a priority in the sector to meet universal coverage of the Cuban health system and the international commitments of medical cooperation, said Jorge González Pérez, rector of Havana Medical Sciences University (UCMH by its Spanish acronym) .

In a press briefing held in this city, he also said that this institution, the country's largest, is to educate and prepare Cuban and foreign students in health specialties.

There are also residents who are trained in different medical specialties, and currently they are almost five thousand, a record for the institution which has a dozen faculties, González Pérez added.

He also announced that for the 2015-2016 year, the house of higher learning will offer 1 700 thousand places for courses in medicine, dentistry ( 250), Nursing Degree (147) and 494 in seven specialties of health technology.

In accordance with the needs of the system, established even not only for the country's requirements, but also with the potential international demand, there is a significant response by specialists for joint action with other states, for free, and external recruitment, emphasized the dean.

He highlighted the growth of the self-financing activity, through which nearly three thousand students pay to study medicine in Cuba, and more than 700 foreigners are enrolled in different specialties, most of them from Mexico and Colombia.

González Pérez praised the existence of a Cuban medical school, with books and own conditions, methodology, guidelines, and training history, since 1728, teaching in nursing and dentistry.

For the preparation of young people from different latitudes, it was recently created a preparatory faculty in Havana, aimed at training non-English speaking foreigners, first in Spanish language, and then in core subjects to begin in September university courses.

He announced that more than two thousand young people from 11 nations, mostly Africans, are being trained there in language and basic sciences before the start of the coming school year.

He specified that there is a rigorous international sanitary control of all travelers arriving from anywhere in the world, which implies a period of epidemiological surveillance to prevent entry of sick people who can put national security at risk, linked in this case to health.