Two of the youths, Mirtha Arzu and Eric Khalil Marshall, are from the Bronx. They have begun intensive studies in basic sciences. The two were interviewed by a New York Times reporter at their new campus recently.

Arzu, 22, whose parents are from Honduras, grew up in the south Bronx. She and a college roommate were considering joining the U.S. Marines in order to obtain scholarship money to continue their studies. Arzu's experiences, growing up in the Bronx, with the callous way the medical system treats working people motivated her to seek to be a different kind of doctor.

"I remember being in Lincoln Hospital with my mother for over six hours and crying because she was in pain," Arzu said. "She was in the emergency room and nobody saw her. What I noticed is that doctors have forgotten about the people. Yes, there is good money; it can help you survive. But if you are going to take care of others, you have to make sure they are really O.K."

Marshall, who like Arzu is Black, joined the Navy several years ago after the recruiter promised job training. After two years, however, repelled by racism and unequal treatment and stymied in his attempt to get training, he took an administrative discharge. "There were people that I had higher rank than, and more time, who were doing their jobs, while I was washing dishes and buffing floors," Marshall said.

On his return, Marshall became involved with various political groups, including the Black Panther Collective. "I want to be a natural doctor, a holistic doctor," Marshall said. "There are a lot of issues going on in my community that do not have to be like that. People are homeless and I'm from the so-called richest country in the world. Why don't we have health care for everybody, things like people who have less than us, like in Cuba, have?"

Karima Mosi, 22, from San Diego, told a Boston Globe reporter that she was overwhelmed by the warm welcome she received at the medical school from teachers and fellow students. "The philosophy here is that doctors should work for the people, not for their own financial benefit, and I agree completely with that."

The more than 3,400 international students at the school come from 23 Latin American, Caribbean, and African countries. The initiative to admit students from the United States came from Cuban president Fidel Castro last year during a visit to Havana by the Congressional Black Caucus.

The Cuban government has offered full scholarships to up to 500 students from communities in the United States that lack access to good medical care. The next group of youth from the United States is expected to arrive in September.

International students attend the Latin American School of Medical Sciences for two years before transferring to one of Cuba's 21 other medical schools to complete their studies. On returning to the United States, they will be required to take three years of post-graduate, hands-on training and pass a national licensing examination in English. Both Arzu and Marshall say they plan to practice in the Bronx when they complete their studies.

When the Times reporter asked Arzu and Marshall how they were adjusting to studying with such a diverse group of people, Arzu replied, "Did we ever meet so many different people? Yes, in New York. That is why I feel at home. Khalil and myself, we got to know people from all walks of life because of the life we had in New York. We lived with them in New York."

In addition to training thousands of doctors from other countries, Cuba sends some 20,000 volunteer doctors as well as other medical personnel to work in rural areas in countries throughout Africa and Latin America, often in areas where other doctors will not work.

Some 800 volunteer Cuban doctors have gone to Haiti, the most impoverished country in the hemisphere. After Hurricane Mitch struck in 1998, Cuba sent 121 doctors to Honduras and a similar number to Nicaragua, and Cuban doctors are carrying out an AIDS prevention campaign in Uganda.

Cuba has made striking advances in public health since the 1959 revolution. The infant mortality rate was 7.9 per 1,000 live births in 1997., one of the lowest in the world. Aggressive vaccination campaigns have eradicated such diseases as measles, mumps, polio, diphtheria, and tuberculosis. Life expectancy is 75 years, only one year less than the United States.
 
 
Related articles:
Cuba offers doctors, drugs for AIDS crisis
Cuba aims for energy self-sufficiency
U.S. youth prepare for exchange in Cuba
 
 
 
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