HAVANA, July 23 (Xinhua) -- A total of 500 doctors from 84 countries of all continents on Tuesday received their college diplomas in different medical science specialties after completing higher education studies at Cuba's Latin American School of Medicine (ELAM).
During the past seven years, these young people received scholarships to become doctors, dentists, nurses, psychologists, health technicians among others.
It's a contribution that Cuba has made to the world, said Cuban Health Minister Jose Angel Portal, who added that the shortage of medical staff and its imbalanced geographical distribution are obstacles to fulfilling the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals regarding public health.
"The preparation of human resources is not only competent, but also scientifically prepared which responds to the interests of a large population to achieve universal health coverage," said the Cuban official.
In this regard, he reaffirmed the decision of late Cuban leader Fidel Castro in the 1960s to welcome low-income young people from all over the world to study medicine or other related subjects at no cost.
Since then, more than 37,333 people from Latin America and the Caribbean, Africa, Eurasia, Oceania and the United States have graduated in this Caribbean nation.
The implementation project has proceeded rapidly after the establishment of the ELAM in November 1999, which has cultivated 29,600 graduates from 115 nations in the past 20 years.
Portal called on the graduates to be "faithful" to the principles of humanism, altruism and dedication to give the needy and the sick the attention they deserve.
"Your daily work should become a synonym for professional excellence and human solidarity," the minister said.
Among the graduates, Akbulan Rease, a U.S. citizen born in Zimbabwe, said the last seven years in Cuba has been a "valuable human and professional experience."
During his school years, he was taught to make a diagnosis with few technical resources and learnt Spanish that will help him in his future career to serve Latino communities in the United States.
"It has definitely been a great opportunity to study medicine ... You learn to treat patients from a human point of view," said Rease.
Ismael Oumarou, the top graduate of the class from Niger, also thanked the Cuban government for running this international project for two decades that has allowed young people to study medicine for free.
Despite economic adversities this Caribbean nation frequently faces, it has prioritized providing scholarships to international students, he said.
"We share the commitment to bring the light of health and hope to the farthest corners of the world," said Oumarou.
This year marks a milestone as more than 100,000 doctors have graduated in the last 50 years, among whom were 37,333 foreigners from more than 140 countries of all continents.
