Medical Education in Cuba and in the United States

In today's edition of the the Washington Post has an interesting article about American students studying medicine in Cuba. While the article itself is very interesting, one bit of information caught my eye when comparing the cost of Cuba education (free) with that of the U.S.:

The United States once had a successful program similar to the one being offered by Cuba: The National Health Service Corps Scholarship Program offered thousands of Americans free tuition and expenses in return for later practicing in areas that needed more doctors. Minorities relied heavily on the program: In 1980, one of every four black medical students had a corps scholarship.

But the Reagan administration began slashing the program each budget year. In 1981, the corps offered 6,159 scholarships. In 1982, the number was cut to 2,449. Last year, the corps awarded 90 new scholarships.

Click here to read the article.

--Tom Hayes