The Government of Cuba has accepted to train 40 brilliant but needy medical students a year from Zongo, inner city and other deprived communities in Ghana.

This follows a proposal made by Vice President Dr Mahamudu Bawumia to the Government of Cuba to extend the special arrangement between the two countries for the training of health personnel in deprived communities.

Vice President Bawumia made the proposal when he held bilateral talks with the President of Cuba, Miguel Diaz-Canel, as part of his state visit to the Caribbean country.

The training programme is expected to begin next year and gender parity would be taken into consideration in the selection of students.

It has been agreed that 20 males and 20 females students would be selected for the training.

President Diaz-Canel said successive Cuban governments had dymistified the training of doctors and ensured the study of medicine was not preserved for the elite.

Therefore, it has largely enabled Cuba to train 80,000 doctors through the open-door policy.

He lauded Ghana’s efforts to offer medical training to brilliant but needy students from deprived communities and expressed Cuba’s readiness to support Ghana to achieve that goal.

The training of doctors and other professionals from poor communities will not only lift them out of poverty, but also provide important role models for other children in deprived communities.

Vice President Bawumia witnessed the graduation ceremony of 221 newly-trained medical personnel at the University of Medical Sciences, Cuba.

Ghanaian Doctor, Ahmed Ayebeng Owusu, was adjudged the Overall Best Foreign Student.

Source: GNA