And making use of that thought once again, he had the idea of creating the Faculty of Medicine and Related Sciences in West Africa, in the Republic of The Gambia. Idea that would apply the traditional model of Medical Sciences studies in Cuba and that materialized on October 1, 1999 and is currently governed by the standards of West Africa, an educational organization of great international prestige, which has known how to recognize the high scientific level of the Cuban teachers, who have worked together with teachers from Nigeria, Gambia, Senegal and others.
The history of teaching in The Gambia has marked a before, an after and is forging the future of health in this sister country. Among the first professors and specialists who arrived in this friendly land is: Dr. Arturo Menéndez who served as a direct advisor and methodology to the provost, who together with Dr. Etim M. Sesión, provost of the University at that time , had the honorable task of initiating the training of future health professionals.
Since then, more than 500 doctors and other health professionals have graduated, and enrollment has been increasing since 2015 so much that it now exceeds 60 students and is expected to continue increasing. Currently in this year 2024 the total number of Medicine students is 377 and 53 Stomatology students. The current cohort 22 has 65 students, of which 50 belong to the Medicine program and 15 to Stomatology. In addition to students from these courses, we also have students from Physiotherapy and Nursing, incorporated at the end of the second semester and to whom our Cuban teachers teach the Basic Sciences subjects.
The objective of teaching in The Gambia is to prepare a health professional from a comprehensive perspective, so that they can fulfill the social responsibility of improving the epidemiological situation of the country and demonstrate in their care the humanism and altruism that characterizes them.
On October 1, 2024, we will celebrate the 25th Anniversary of the creation of the Faculty of Medicine in this region, so we will be honoring our Historical leader with numerous curricular and extracurricular activities, which will highlight the relevance of this wonderful idea that means also a gesture of great humanism and solidarity.
United with the Gambian people, our motto is to continue in the beautiful task of training future generations of professionals, for which we wanted to end with a few words spoken by Fidel in one of the anti-imperialist tribunes, remembering the work carried out by Cuban collaborators in this brother country:
Fidel’s words:
«A few days ago I met with 70 health workers, who after a short vacation were returning to The Gambia to resume their noble and selfless work in that West African country. When they remembered with expressions of affection and advance congratulations that my birthday would be a few days later, I responded: my birthday is today, after this meeting with you.”
I experienced a truly profound emotion that day after the three-hour exchange I had with those compatriots. They were highly qualified university professionals, some very young, others older, from the eastern, central and western provinces, almost all family doctors and other specialties, although there were also stomatologists and nurses; They were men and women of humble origins, of all races and mixtures of races, just as we are. Something stood out above all: legitimate pride, optimism, personal courage, self-confidence, creative spirit, quick mind, cheerful voice and gesture, which in an unmistakable and incomparable way characterize Cuban internationalists.
They returned anxiously to the dozens of populated points they serve, on both banks of a wide river that extends for hundreds of kilometers, in a small and elongated country where they provide the most human of all services: relieving pain, preserving or restoring the immense well-being of health, and above all saving lives.
That very different world is now as much yours as Cuba itself. And how his love for both humanity and the country grows! How gigantic and heroic the human person can be! To what amazing heights their minds and hearts can soar!
This is how our Commander saw us, and we will never let him down, This is how we see The Gambia as a homeland, like our own!
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