Young U.S. Student Thanks Cuba for Medical Training on the Island

HAVANA, Cuba, Jul 26 (acn) I owe a lot to Cuba; what it has taught me in Medicine and outside Medicine is great, asserted in an exclusive interview with ACN Diana Gutierrez, of New York, the United States, who recently finished her studies.

A graduate from Havana's University of Medical Sciences (ELAM), Diana Gutierrez, one of the 21 new U.S. physicians that now completed their studies on the Caribbean island, said she feels she is a very well-trained professional and ratified the willingness to provide health care wherever necessary.
The idea of the historic leader of the Cuban Revolution of creating, almost 16 years ago, the Latin American Medical School is successful, stressed the young graduate, who on behalf of her family and classmates thanked Fidel and Raul, the center's teachers and workers "for this noble project, an example to the world," she highlighted.
Speaking to ACN, Dr. Rafael Gonzalez, rector of the ELAM, founded on November 15, 1999, by Fidel Castro, underlined that in its 11 graduations it has trained more than 26,000 physicians from 84 countries.
The project, in addition to its headquarters, is developed in all universities Medical Sciences in the country, and has currently more than 6,000 students from 117 States, said Dr. Gonzalez.
Most graduates of the 2014-1015 academic year were from North and South America. A total of 132 physicians from the United States have already graduated and other 84 students are enrolled in different years of Medicine, he pointed out.
In the graduation ceremony of the ELAM, the school's rector said that in this academic year nearly one thousand physicians from 34 countries, including 596 Cubans -210 from the ELAM and the rest by way of other training models- graduated from that center of higher studies.
The new physicians will join the thousands of youngsters from over 120 nations that have graduated from different faculties of the country, who along with Cubans have fulfilled missions and tasks to do their bit for the well-being of the peoples, he emphasized.