Medical School Scholarship Program

at the Latin American School of Medical Sciences, Havana, Cuba

Program overview

The people of Cuba have extended, to students from the US, the opportunity to study medicine on a full scholarhship at the prestigious Latin American School of Medicine in Havana, Cuba. IFCO/Pastors for Peace coordinates this program in the United States.

The Medical School curriculum includes a 12-week intensive Spanish language program for those who need it.

The program of The Latin American School of Medical Sciences is based on intensive advising and tutoring designed to help every student succeed. Students must pass competency exams at appropriate points in their course of study.

The six-year medical school program, which follow the pre-med program, begins every September and is divided into 12 semesters. Students study at the LASMS campus for the first two years, and then go to another of Cuba's 21 medical schools, which are located throughout the island, to complete their studies. The Cuban medical training model combines theory and practice and is oriented toward primary care, community medicine and hands-on internships.

Facilities

The Latin American School of Medical Sciences is located in a former naval academy. This campus has 28 building which house 80 classrooms, 37 laboratories, five amphitheaters, dormitories, an infirmary, and other facilities.

The Latin American School of Medical Sciences currently has 3,432 students enrolled from 23 countries in Latin America, the Caribbean and Africa. Extracurricular activities include arts, sports, film, disco, the beach, and regular "Culture House" activities in which the students - who represent dozens of different ethnic groups - share aspects of their own cultures.

Applicant criteria

Applicants should:

• Be US citizens
• Be between the ages of 18 and 30 at the time of registration
• Be physically and mentally fit
• Come from the humblest and neediest communities in the US
• Be committed to practice medicine in poor and under served US communities after graduation

Applicants will be prescreened. Final decisions about admissions will be made by a committee representing the Cuban Ministry of Public Health and the faculty of The Latin American School of Medical Sciences.

Background

During a Congressional Black Caucus delegation to Cuba, organized by IFCO/Pastors for Peace, caucus representative Bennie G. Thompson, a Congressman from the Mississippi Delta, remarked to President Fidel Castro that there are large areas in his district which do not have a single physician. President Castro responded with an offer of full scholarships for students from impoverished regions of the US to study medicine in Cuba. This offer was intended to be more than a short-term solution. It is the beginning of the creating of a heath care infrastructure for generations to come.

In his speech on Sept 8, 2000, at New York City's Riverside Church President Castro said, "we are prepared to grant a number of scholarships to poor youth who cannot afford to pay the $200,000 it costs to get a medical degree in the US." Cuba is offering 250 full scholarships per year for students in under served communities in the United States to study medicine in Cuba. Tuition, dormitory room and board, and textbooks are free of charge.

What we want from The Latin American School of Medical Sciences is for students from our sister nations to become imbued with the same doctrine in which our own doctors are educated, with that total devotion to their noble future profession - for a doctor is like a shepherd, a priest, a missionary, a crusader for the people's health and physical and mental well-being.
-- Cuban President Fidel Castro

In Cuba, health care is universal and free

Cuba has continued to make health care a priority for its citizens, despite the effects of the suffocating US economic blockade, Cuba's public health care system is world-renowned. It maintains one physician for every 168 people in the country and produced 2000 new physicians every year — a remarkable number for any country of 11 million people. The infant mortality rate is less than most cities in the US. The Cuban Ministry of Health maintains a clinic with at least one doctor and one nurse in residence for every 120 families.

Cuba is also a health care provider for the world

• Cuba has sent thousands of doctors and medical professionals to serve in the poorest areas of Latin America and Africa
• Cuba has treated more than 16,000 victims of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster
• Cuba is organizing a health-care task force to tackle the problem of the AIDS epidemic in Africa
• Cuba has trained hundreds of doctors from African and Latin American nations - all free of charge

Now Cuba is reaching out to "third world" regions in the United States, to train doctors for the cities and rural areas and reservations where medical services are most desperately needed.

Resources

• Download a brochure with a description of the school and its programs
• Find out more about the med school program by attending a conference in your city
• Read a transcript of a recent NPR show on the medical school
• Read recent print coverage of the medical school program
• Visit other sites with photos of the medical school
• Read the press release about the December 13 conference in Charleston, South Carolina