Ghana requests more Cuban doctors

He also appealed for assistance for animal husbandry as well as citrus and rice production when he met Cuban Ambassador Gustavo Prez-Cruz in Accra, Saturday.

The vice-president also requested for more lecturers for the University of Ghana at Legon, and the University for Development Studies.

He said Cuba, as a strong nation in sports could also support Ghana in nurturing sports men and women to world-class level.

Mahama said Ghana was offering scholarships to a number of Cuban public servants at the Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration as a means of deepening the time-tested bilateral relations.

Ambassador Prez-Cruz said Cuba was exploring the possibility of establishing a bio-larvicide factory in Ghana to help combat mosquitoes in the West African sub-region.

The envoy said the Cuban Medical Brigade had produced a comprehensive report on diseases in Ghana and made recommendations to deal with them.

South Africa also has a co-operative agreement with Cuba in the healthcare sector.

By July 2006, a total of 430 South African medical students had been enrolled in the program with Cuba, as part of an agreement signed between the two nations in 1995.

The agreement also includes the recruitment of Cuban doctors to work in rural areas in South Africa.

After being selected for the training program, the South African students study for five years in Cuba and write the National Final Cuban Examinations.

The trainee-doctors then return to South Africa on the sixth year to do their final clinical year and internship in various South African health-science faculties, particularly those in the under-resourced areas.

The students then sit for a South African examination with the rest of the country's medical students to qualify as doctors.

Article published courtesy of BuaNews