Introduced by Consul General Jesus Rodiguez, Steve Brouwer speaks about the Venezuelan health care system and the program to bring primary health care to all previously denied it due to their poverty. From his experience in researching his recent book on the topic he relates the successes and the obstacles to fully implement "Mission Al Dentro". The foundation of the unique model rests on the Cuban governments program to train doctors who are committed to working in community where ever they are needed. Medical education is free and Cuba has 80,000 doctors. Cuba and Venezuela together have 72,000 students in medical school. This exceeds the number of US students studying to become doctors. Additionally, without the burden of debt that the US system imposes, the new doctors will be free to follow their humanitarian inclinations instead of being channeled by their educational debt burden into a US like system of rationing health care to those who can pay.
Consulate of Venezuela in Chicago Stan Smith Steve Brouwer : brouwer.steve@gmail.com
Brouwer offers a first-hand account of Venezuelaâs program of community health care. Its the story of Venezuelaâs Integral Community Medicine program, in which doctor-teachers move into the countryside and poor urban areas to recruit and train doctors from among peasants and workers. The program was first developed in Cuba. Today Cuban medical personnel play a key role in Venezuela as advisers and organizers. By developing its internationalist model, Cuba has become a world leader in medicine and medical training. The Venezuelans, with the aid of their Cuban counterparts, are following suit.
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