A work that unites peoples

By Yaniuska Macias
Photos: Rodolfo Blanco

Mario confesses he learned more
than Medicine in Cuba

Many expectations accompanied young Mario Izquierdo Hernández on his arrival, six years ago, to the Latin American School of Medicine (ELAM) from their native Villa El Salvador, in the South of the city of Lima, capital of Peru.

The criteria of some classmates enrolled in the educational institution and the information on the Internet were not enough, he had to experience by himself, the student explains. During all his dialogue with the press he always uses the word us. 

Surprised by a very warm climate, not only by the typical conditions of the island, but by the way they received him, Mario identified that free and easy attention responds to the detachment characterizing the Cuban people, its professors and leaders.

The Peruvian scholar confesses he couldn't believe that reality so often denied in his own country, without measuring who you are or where you come from. Only to know know you're a human being is enough.

Today he is grateful today because of the rigor in classes and demanding teachers, because he  considers them as the contribution to an education of excellence to improve medical services in their nations and to greatly heighten the name of Cuba, for the quality of their training as health professionals.

It is incredible to Izquierdo the achievement of an academic structure that enables communication between students from Latin America, Africa and the Caribbean, and even Americans, with different languages and able to receive the same instruction.

He still remembers a conversation with Dr. Eladio Valcárcel, Vice-Rector of ELAM, who explained to him the moral commitment of the personal teaching staff of receiving 100 students and return the same number of doctors.

As part of his studies program, Mario is currently in his sixth year of Medicine at the Carlos Juan Finlay University of Medical,Sciences in the city of Camaguey, which also welcomes foreign scholars of different health specialties.

There he continues enriching in terms of cultural exchange and questions typical of each region of the planet, with the multinational galas taking place in the student residence and without which he would not have the opportunity to learn beyond the borders of his nation.

"Cuba gave us the opportunity to connect with the world," he said, "of living in a climate of understanding to know the needs and realities of our colleagues, to understand why we are different and the same at the same time.”

And he added: "Here we are really one: humanity. We take that message to our peoples together with the work in the poorest communities, to convey to the people a more preventive vision of health.”

"We have understood that the majority of the population we must attend is on the streets, and to this direction we position our compass, linking us, recognizing the problems of the people and identifying their needs."

For Mario, Fidel Castro, leader of the Cuban revolution, was never wrong when he  described them as Cubans born abroad.

The young Peruvian asserts professors have not really measured what they are getting with making them, who were never used to receive so much education and training at all levels, from the academic to the human one.