California Recognition of Cuba's Latin American Medical School

[magbana]

This is incredible and terrific news.

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/CubaNews/message/95357

California Recognition of Cuba's Latin American Medical School

From the Medical Board of California Newsletter, November 2008, page 9:

Medical Board grants recognition to three new international medical educational
programs

On July 25, 2008, the Medical Board of California granted recognition to three
international medical educational programs: the Medical University of Lublin in
Lublin, Poland; Poznan University of medical Sciences in Poznan, Poland; and the
Escuela Latinamericana de Medicina (ELAM) in Havana, Cuba. The two Polish
schools offer medical education programs in the English language to noncitizens.
ELAM offers its Spanish-language program free of charge to non-citizens who
agree to practice medicine in underserved areas after graduation.

With the Board's recognition, graduates of these three schools are now eligible
to compete for postgraduate training programs in California and apply for
licensure in California. The Board welcomes graduates of these schools to
consider California for training and practice.

A friend wrote and asked me whether this meant my son --who studied medicine in
Cuba, but not with the Latin American School of Medicine -- could now practice
in California. I explained that my son's situation is different from the US
students who studied at ELAM since he studied earlier, at the already
established medical schools in Santa Clara and Havana.

To practice in the US he would first have to take the medical exams they give to
all foreign students or students who studied in foreign countries, which by the
way are harder than the ones for students who studied here. Plus, whereas in
other countries they teach the students to be good doctors, with a lot of
hands-on practice along the way, usually over 6 years, the 3-year postgraduate
medical schools in the US are like so much other education here very
exam-oriented.

So in general I would say that students from medical schools in other countries
are better prepared to be doctors when they graduate and students from US
medical schools are better prepared to pass the exams. But in addition to taking
these tests, all medical school graduates must do their residencies at some
hospital or health facility, and that requires the state where they want to do
their residency to recognize the medical school they have graduated from.

What this is announcement is about is filling a hole that existed before, since
the first graduate of the ELAM, Cedric, from New Orleans, discovered when he
came to California after graduation (his home and city had just been destroyed
by Katrina) that he couldn't do his residency in this state because the medical
schools of California did not have the protocols or agreements with Cuban
medical schools that other states have. So this is correcting that situation.
And I am sure they are announcing all three simultaneously so it takes the focus
off Cuba.

[Judi Lynn]

1. Unexpected, in addition! This is a wonderful step taken.

It would almost make you think people have been quietly working for progress on their own, regardless of what monstrous policies the current pResident has pursued. Maybe they were banking on a decent future we no longer believed was possible.

This is a big move.

The idea of bringing forward three schools simultaneously is perfect.