Cuba to offer post grad medical programmes

Last Updated on Saturday, 26 December 2015, 21:01 by GxMedia

Cuba is to provide post-graduate training to Guyanese doctors who have been trained in the Spanish-speaking Caribbean nation, Health Minister Dr, Bheri Ramsarran announced Saturday.

He was at the time addressing the convocation ceremony at the Guyana International Conference Centre for 70 Guyanese doctors who had received Guyana government scholarships to study at the Latin American School of Medicine.

Ramsarran later told Demerara Waves Online News that discussions were progressing well with Cuban authorities to offer post graduate training in general surgery, orthopaedic surgery, gynaecology and obstetrics, paediatrics and internal medicine.

It is unclear when any of those programmes would begin because Cuban officials are currently assessing data that they collected from Guyanese authorities during a fact-finding mission here. “We are not going to rush it because the Cubans are very anxious that it’s a quality programme…We are in no rush but we have started the process,” said the Health Minister.

Demerara Waves Online News (www.demwaves.com) was told that 30 of the doctors will be attached to the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC) as part of their one-year residency programme to benefit from further exposure with experienced and highly qualified doctors.

“They will have to show at the end of the process that they can be signed on to for further mobility,” said Ramsarran.

Officials said 230 others have already graduated in Cuba.

Cuban Ambassador to Guyana, Raul Gartazar Marrero urged the doctors to continue updating their knowledge so that can be respected by their patients. “Guyana requires professionals who are fully identified with the country’s problems and are willing to contribute to its development,” he said.

President Donald Ramotar stressed that it is not only Guyana’s natural resources that are important for its development. He said quality human development was the reason why his country was one of the few in the Caribbean that has been dedicating 30 percent of its budget to the social sector-health, housing and education.’

He urged the doctors to not only cure the sick but prevent illnesses. “We need to have a healthy workforce,” he said.

The Guyanese leader said that in a multi-ethnic society, every citizen must be entitled to equal opportunity in the quest to develop human capital.