Roundup: Medical diplomacy helps build Cuba's soft power

In addition to tropical scenes and hand-rolled cigars, doctors have become yet another leading force of human resources characteristic of Cuba, not only earning respect and hard currencies from the rest of the world, but also building soft power for the Caribbean island.

Cuban President Raul Castro has bestowed medals upon the island's medical staff who contributed to the fight against the Ebola epidemic in Western Africa, the official daily Granma reported on Friday.

The State Council, chaired by Castro, granted the Order Carlos J. Finlay on Thursday night to 248 members of Cuba's medical brigade. Finlay is a celebrated Spanish-Cuban physician and scientist recognized as a pioneer in the research of yellow fever.

Among the medal winners were two members of the medical team who were recognized posthumously for their merits during their work in Africa as they died in the line of duty, Granma said.

FIGHTING EBOLA WINS RESPECT

The United Nations praised Cuba on Thursday for being at the forefront of the global crusade against Ebola by sending 256 doctors and nurses to Western Africa in an immediate response to a cry for help from the international community and the World Health Organization (WHO) in September 2014.

"I saw their work in the three nations (Sierra Leon, Guinea and Liberia) and I was impressed by their work," UN anti-Ebola specialist David Nabarro told Cuban news agency Prensa Latina on Thursday referring to the Cuban medics.

Castro lauded the medical staff's work in fighting the Ebola epidemic in Western Africa, which has left more than 11,200 dead since its outbreak over a year ago, according to WHO official figures.

"You represent the continuation of the personal altruism and selflessness, which have characterized the island's medical cooperation since it began in 1963, with the sending of the first brigade to Algeria," Castro was quoted by Granma as saying in his letter.

WORLDWIDE MEDICAL DIPLOMACY

Cuba's medical staff and know-how have traveled to wider areas beyond Algeria and Western Africa.

During the 67th World Health Assembly held in Geneva in May 2014, Cuban Health Minister Roberto Morales said that since the revolution in the 1950s, about 135,000 healthcare workers have helped improve health services in more than 120 countries.

At present, Cuba has about 50,000 health collaborators and medical brigades in 68 countries worldwide, and some 39,000 doctors from 121 countries have been trained in Cuba as part of the island's so-called medical diplomacy.

The island's prestigious Latin American School of Medicine (ELAM) has trained more than 24,400 medical professionals since 2005, according to the Cuban Health Ministry.

In 2012 alone, 5,694 students from 59 countries graduated from Cuba's free training program at the ELAM, with the overwhelming majority (2,400) from Bolivia, followed by Peru (453), Nicaragua (429), Ecuador (308), Colombia (175) and Guatemala (170). Enrollment currently numbers 6,075 students from 117 nations, with many from poor families.

After Cuba's 1959 Revolution, revolutionary leader Fidel Castro pushed to make first-world medical services a priority for the government.

Cuba had only over 6,000 doctors at the time, and nearly half of them left to settle in Miami or other parts of the United States, encouraged by then U.S. President Dwight Eisenhower.

Thanks to the government's continuous effort during the past decades, the island now has around 300 hospitals with 80,000 beds and over 750,000 doctors for 11 million Cubans, one of the world's highest rates of doctors per capita, according to the Cuban government.

HEALTH INDUSTRY GAINS WORLD FAME

Not only do Cubans medical experts leave the island to help people in other countries, people from other countries also come to Cuba to receive medical treatment.

Since the beginning of the 21st century, Cuba's medical tourism industry has been rapidly growing with thousands arriving from other countries, because treatment is less expensive on the island and some treatments on offer are not available in other countries, said an article published on New York Times on Feb. 17, 2015.

The Caribbean island has already established a reputation for medical treatments that include drug and alcohol rehabilitation, eye surgery, orthopedics, heart surgeries, dermatology, neurology and cosmetic surgery, according to the International Medical Travel Journal.

The majority of Cuba's foreign patients come from Latin America, and some from Angola, Canada and Spain. Some Cuban-Americans also see doctors in Cuba. It is also expected that U.S.-national patients will increase if the travel ban on U.S. citizens to Cuba is lifted.

Argentine football legend Diego Maradona went to Cuba to receive treatment for his drug addiction and Venezuela's late President Hugo Chavez was treated for cancer on the island. Endi