Cuba and Pakistan
Fidel Castro has officially stepped aside from the seat of power that he so diligently clung onto for the past half century. His name has been so maligned by the western media that any mention of Cuba provokes an unwelcome image of Fidel with it in everyone's mind. We forget to see a country but instead are forced to see a man - who we are made to believe is - a dictator.
But finally Fidel Castro is a thing of the past. He is behind the curtain and Cuba has something new to celebrate for - a new leader. Raul can not be termed a new face as he has been hanging around his brother, lurking in the power corridors, since the revolution in 1959. He personally saw to the execution of anti revolution people in the years ensuing the revolution. But for that matter change is welcome as that is the only permanent thing to go around uninterrupted in this world and in this cosmos.
My concern is the change in the relationship between Pakistan and Cuba. Cuba was one of the first countries to send relief and disaster management teams to the earthquake victims of 2005. Their teams were the most professional and the most dedicated. Unlike other western people they spent little time looking around and gathering information and more time on actual work.
Pakistan also has just recently started a student training programme with Cuba. In this programme Cuba accepts 1000 students from Pakistan and trains them in medicine over a course of 6 or 7 years. All this is free of charge to the students. I think this collaboration is a very welcome one from a student's point of view. In my mind the benefit is many fold. It is becoming almost impossible for our medical doctors to come to US to train and gain valuable knowledge. The process is lengthy and very unduly expensive. It costs us a minimum of 1.1 million Rupees (18,334 US Dollars) to get into the system. Similarly the doors to UK have been effectively blocked by the health sector reform the UK govt. has taken over the past may years. The only avenues left for a better training are either Australia or the rest of Europe. the demand of health care professionals is very high in the European countries and they evidently can't fill it all up with their own people. For Pakistani medical doctors the only impediment to getting jobs in the non English speaking European countries is language barrier. The Cuba programme includes a year's worth in Spanish training. This is a very beneficial adjunct to medical training. It will help these students to step on the international pedestal effectively opening doors to Europe and more so to Southern America.
So my concern is the continuing relationship between Cuba and Pakistan in the field of medicine.
Technorati Tags: Cuba, Fidel Castro, Castro, Raul Castro, Raul, Pakistan, Medicine, Revolution, Students, Earthquake '05
But finally Fidel Castro is a thing of the past. He is behind the curtain and Cuba has something new to celebrate for - a new leader. Raul can not be termed a new face as he has been hanging around his brother, lurking in the power corridors, since the revolution in 1959. He personally saw to the execution of anti revolution people in the years ensuing the revolution. But for that matter change is welcome as that is the only permanent thing to go around uninterrupted in this world and in this cosmos.
My concern is the change in the relationship between Pakistan and Cuba. Cuba was one of the first countries to send relief and disaster management teams to the earthquake victims of 2005. Their teams were the most professional and the most dedicated. Unlike other western people they spent little time looking around and gathering information and more time on actual work.
Pakistan also has just recently started a student training programme with Cuba. In this programme Cuba accepts 1000 students from Pakistan and trains them in medicine over a course of 6 or 7 years. All this is free of charge to the students. I think this collaboration is a very welcome one from a student's point of view. In my mind the benefit is many fold. It is becoming almost impossible for our medical doctors to come to US to train and gain valuable knowledge. The process is lengthy and very unduly expensive. It costs us a minimum of 1.1 million Rupees (18,334 US Dollars) to get into the system. Similarly the doors to UK have been effectively blocked by the health sector reform the UK govt. has taken over the past may years. The only avenues left for a better training are either Australia or the rest of Europe. the demand of health care professionals is very high in the European countries and they evidently can't fill it all up with their own people. For Pakistani medical doctors the only impediment to getting jobs in the non English speaking European countries is language barrier. The Cuba programme includes a year's worth in Spanish training. This is a very beneficial adjunct to medical training. It will help these students to step on the international pedestal effectively opening doors to Europe and more so to Southern America.
So my concern is the continuing relationship between Cuba and Pakistan in the field of medicine.
Technorati Tags: Cuba, Fidel Castro, Castro, Raul Castro, Raul, Pakistan, Medicine, Revolution, Students, Earthquake '05
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