Díaz Canel with doctors in Harlem
Why these young men and women studied in Cuba? The New Yorker recently asked.
President Miguel Díaz-Canel promised a photo at the Riverside Church in Harlem, with US graduates of Medicine in Cuba. He fulfilled his promise.
The New Yorker wonders why African Americans choose Cuba to study Medicine:
In the United States, African American and Hispanic students represent only six percent of Medical graduates each year. On the contrary, almost half the US students that have graduated from the Latin American School of Medicine (ELAM) are black and one third is Hispanics. In Cuba, more than 170 have graduated. “You would never see those numbers” in the United States, expressed Melissa Barber.
Since 1987 up to the present, less than six percent of Medical students in United States come from low income families. The cost of Medical studies has increased; the student debt´s average in 2016 was 190 thousand dollars. Donald Trump´s budget for fiscal year 2019 will reduce the funds for postgraduate medical studies to 48 thousand million dollars. Cuba offers free scholarships to students coming to the Latin America School of Medicine.
