8 August Presna Latina
Hundreds of new doctors graduated in Cuba will return to Bolivia starting this weekend to start offering medical attention in their country's rural areas.
Bolivian director of health services, Ruben Colque said that 780 new physicians, who graduated at the Havana-based Latin American School of Medicine are returning home to first offer an initial land compulsory service in rural areas before they get to their final places of work. The preliminary stage, known as social service, will be coordinated with regional health offices in different departments, Colque said.
Meanwhile, the Health Ministry is drawing up a specialization program for the new doctors, given the country's need of specialists in areas such as anesthesiology, pediatric surgery, nephrology and geriatrics, PL news agency reported from La Paz.
Before this graduation took place, over 3 thousan 800 Bolivian doctors concluded their studies in Cuba, while another 2 thousand are currently taking medical courses on the island.
Last June, a group of 125 medical doctors graduated in Cuba began working at the El Alto City as parat of the My Health Program, which was inaugurated by President Evo Morales to guarantee free healthcare to the people.
Shortly after Morales took power in 2006, a large group of Cuban doctors traveled to Bolivia, where they are still offering their services in the most remote areas of the South American nation.