68 Cuba-trained doctors join health sector tomorrow - Jamaica

68 Cuba-trained doctors join health sector tomorrow
Sunday, September 01, 2013

A batch of 68 doctors, who finished training recently in Cuba, will be
deployed into Jamaica's health sector starting tomorow.
The doctors, all Jamaicans, represent the latest and largest batch of
medical graduates to have been trained in the Socialist Republic since
the Cuba/Jamaica Bilateral Programme began over 30 years ago.
The doctors, who graduated from the University of Santiago de Cuba's
medical faculty in July, will be deployed to hospitals across the
island, with the bulk of them assigned to the Kingston Public Hospital
and the Cornwall Regional Hospital, as well as the Spanish Town
Hospital, May Pen Hospital, Mandeville General Hospital, St Ann's Bay
Hospital, Savanna-la-Mar Hospital, and Annotto Bay Hospital.
Graduate Heron Grant is anxiously awaiting the day when he will be able
to give back to residents in his community in Byndloss, Linstead, St
Catherine, by offering affordable and quality care to children.
The 27-year-old doctor said he also plans to positively impact the
locals there, so "as soon as I am able I would like to see how I can
serve my community in paediatrics and make it as affordable as possible".
Grant and his collegues spent seven years at the university.
The newly trained doctors were officially welcomed and congratulated by
Health Minister Fenton Ferguson and outgoing Cuban Ambassador Yuri Gala
Lopez during a reception hosted by the ministry of health at its office
in downtown Kingston on Thursday.
Minister Ferguson, who abandoned his speech and instead opted to have a
conversation with the doctors, urged them to display the skills that
they had learned and to add value to the current work of the local doctors.
The minister also implored the doctors to recognise that their position
comes with tremendous responsibility and urged them to serve with humility.
"I know that many of you want to wear that doctor (title) on your
forehead but that's not it, that is just like a person who walks around
and boasts that he is a Christian and Christianity must be manifested,"
he said.
"Being a good doctor should be manifested by your compassion, how you
see your patients, how serious you take your oath. It's not about how
quickly you're going to drive the Mercedes Benz or live in Cherry
Gardens or Beverly Hills," Ferguson stated.
He advised the doctors that once they are steadfast and have a sense of
mission and fixity of purpose, all the material things that they desire
will be achieved.
"Becoming a doctor is a great achievement, but becoming a servant of the
people is a greater achievement," said the minister, who also expressed
gratitude to the Cuban Government.
Ambassador Gala Lopez for his part said that Cuba is committed to
continue assisting Jamaica.
Over 200 Jamaican students are currently studying in Cuban universities
as a result of the programme, Gala Lopez said.
The ambassador said that although the current economic condition had
impacted the programme, it will not be discontinued, as four students
left the island in July to study medicine.
"For Cuba, it is not just giving others what we have to spare, but
moderately sharing with them the little resources that we have," he said.
Chief medical officer in the health ministry, Dr Michael Coombs, told
the doctors that they were joining the health system at a critical time,
but urged them to call on God for guidance and strength when the job
becomes too much for them to bear.
Dr Matthew Lloyd O'Connor expressed gratitude to the Cuban and Jamaican
government which made their studies possible.
"The group is determined to revolutionise medicine in Jamaica and in the
Caribbean. We have decided to turn our backs on the commonplace and the
ordinary and drastically improve health care across the 14 parishes of
the island," Dr O'Connor said.

Source: "68 Cuba-trained doctors join health sector tomorrow - News -
JamaicaObserver.com" -
http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/news/68-Cuba-trained-doctors-join-health-sector-tomorrow_14970514