Seven young Jamaicans and a Cuban living in Jamaica have been awarded scholarships to pursue studies at the School of Medicine in Cuba.
The students, five of whom will study medicine, one dentistry and two postgraduate medical specialities, were selected from a pool of 200 applicants.
The Jamaica-born students are Amanda Bradley, Dominique Whitely, Deanroy Clarke and Donorio Hartley, Satasha Hutchinson, Kerrylee Jones and Naifia Murray.
Marianne Binta Konate Hernandez, the daughter of Cuban resident in Jamaica, will study medicine. Hernandez has Cuban and Ghanaian roots, a mixed origin that has coalesced in Jamaica, where she has lived most of her life.
Pictured is Marianne Binta Konate Hernandez, a Cuban descendant who was awarded a scholarship.
Speaking at an awards ceremony at the Cuban Embassy on Trafalgar Road in Kingston last Friday, Cuban Ambassador to Jamaica, Inés Fors Fernandez said the students selected were dedicated with excellent academic grades.
She said the students “displayed the vocation to serve their communities and country, but whose humble origins have made it difficult for them to realise their dreams”.
Fors Fernandez further noted that the Cuban government has decided to be consistent with its solidarity and humanist vocation, in spite its current economic challenges caused by the impact of the international economic crisis and the reinforcement of the unjust US economic, financial and commercial blockade.
The medical students will be trained for public service in disadvantaged urban and rural communities, developing competencies in comprehensive primary care, from health promotion to treatment and rehabilitation.
“Once in Cuba, you will spend three to six months in a pre-medical connecting programme to address uneven educational backgrounds. Non-Spanish speakers, like most of you, study the language, since instruction is in Spanish,” Fors Fernandez told the students.
Cuba-Jamaica medical scholarships
