The California Bay Area has become a hub for new doctors who are taking advantage of a little-known program that provides medical training in Cuba. The Cuban experience gives these young people an excellent medical education and allows them to practice family medicine and help the poor without the burden of debt incurred by students at most American medical schools. 

Cuba started inviting medical students from the United States after members of the Congressional Black Caucus met with Fidel Castro on a visit to the island in 2000. Caucus members told Castro about health professional shortage areas in the United States, and he responded with an offer to fund 500 medical students who showed aptitude and a commitment to work in under-served communities.  Since then, 34 have graduated, and more than 160 are currently enrolled. Many apply through the Interreligious Foundation for Community Organization in New York City, a group seeking to increase the number of minority providers in medicine and to expand available health care services in under-served areas of the United States.

Cuba, where health care is a right, has health statistics and life expectancy comparable to those of industrialized nations, at a fraction of the cost of care in the United States. Too poor to rely on high-tech equipment or expensive invasive procedures, the Cuban model stresses prevention and the social determinants of health. 

Many students enter American medical schools wanting to practice family care but are discouraged by the second-class status of primary care, coupled with lower reimbursement rates for preventive medicine and diagnosis, and a system organized around insurance and payer source, not necessarily the long-term health of the patient. 

To read the full report by Julia Landau in the East Bay Express, go to http://www.eastbayexpress.com/gyrobase/learning-medicine-the-cuban-way/Content?oid=1564592&showFullText+true