Around 2,000 Mexicans have studied medicine and some specialty in Cuba over 18 years as part of a program of the Latin American School of Medicine (ELAM) of the island and with the collaboration of the embassy of that country in Mexico. It is a training with high academic and humanistic quality that translates into being close to and listening to patients.
Raúl Cartagena, a specialist in family medicine, graduated from ELAM, for whom the knowledge and experience acquired in the Caribbean nation should be the model to follow in Mexico in order to recover primary health care and community work, explains that the The program was suspended in 2018 due to economic difficulties of the Cuban government, but as of 2021 it is possible to study a specialty on the island with Conacyt scholarships. It is part of the federal government’s strategy to solve the deficit of this type of health professionals.
Doctor Cartagena, 30 years old, returned from Cuba in 2019 and together with 200 colleagues is part of the ELAM Collective. He recalled the difficulties they faced in Mexico: “we are relegated because we are graduates from Cuba.” He himself was six months without work until he joined the Ministry of Health of Mexico City.
Due to this contempt of the institutions, around half of these doctors found work in offices adjacent to pharmacies as an alternative, until due to the covid-19 pandemic, the Institute of Health for Well-being (Insabi) opened calls for their hiring. .
Virtually all of them joined the work in public sector hospitals, including the National Institute of Respiratory Diseases (INER), one of the hospitals with the greatest capacity to care for coronavirus patients. Cartagena stressed that once the emergency situation was over, his colleagues kept their jobs. “They are good doctors.”
The specialist recalled that he went to study in Cuba “because I did not reach the points in the exam to enter the UNAM School of Medicine. The requirement was 106 correct answers and I got 97”. He found the ELAM option and stayed for nine years.
Since he returned he began to give consultations at home, as he learned to do in Cuba. There is no time limit to listen to patients, learn about their needs and health problems.
He says that the goal is for them to feel comfortable with a good clinical history and physical auscultation to resolve their ailments. This is the case in most cases and only some require specialized care.
He commented that on the island family doctors go to the homes of those who are bedridden, the elderly, pregnant women, newborns and those who are healthy are summoned to attend a check-up. Laboratory tests are performed, blood pressure is measured, as well as regular eye and foot checks.
This is medicine in Cuba and he explains that the important thing is that people enjoy good health and a long life.