• Submitted by: manso
• International
• 01 / 10 / 2011

---

07 de enero de 2011, 15:29San Salvador, Jan 7 (Prensa Latina) Cuban Ambassador in El Salvador Pedro Pablo Prada rejected a campaign carried out by local rightwing political parties and press media to discriminate and slander Salvadoran students who were graduated in the Latin American Medicine School (ELAM) in Havana.

"The ELAM School has been coarsely attacked, and so my country. That is why I strongly reject such attacks," Prada said in an interview by local Radio Nacional station Friday about the campaign led by rightwing Republican Nationalist Alliance of El Salvador (ARENA).

Prada rejected and refused versions from those sectors that the Salvadoran graduates having studied in Cuba, and still studying there, even from the US -who have low incomes- are graduated in Medicine.

He stated that all the students who study medicine in Cuba -from Cuba and from abroad- obtain a title of Doctor in Medicine, the program is a public program, widely known, with recognition and accreditation not only by the Cuban authorities, but from organizations such as the Pan American Health Organization and the World Health Organization.

"The studies program is recognized by many universities, including 10 of the most relevant universities in the world. It is very risky and dangerous to start talking on behalf of the Salvadoran medical community, which knows quite much about the Cuban public system" he added.

Prada reminded that even many Salvadoran doctors graduated in El Salvador have studied postgraduate courses in Havana.

He refused the idea that the chance to study in Cuba for a foreign student becomes "a political scholarship" and demanded those who say so to bring solid evidence on the case.

He also gave information on the fact that many Salvadoran doctors who graduated in Cuba were excluded, not being able to incorporate themselves to the Salvadoran public health system, and others were victims of the so-called "Theft of Brains".

The campaign was also rejected by officials of the Salvadoran and Cuban Public health Ministries, students, local political and social organizations and the Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front (FMLN).sus/tac/jl/rl

Source: PL