The Cuban Government has offered four medical scholarships to the Fijian Government for local students to study Bachelor of Surgery and Medicine (MBBS) in Cuba beginning this September.
The Public Service Commission permanent secretary Mr Parmesh Chand says the Cuban medicine scholarship programme covers six years of study and one year learning the Spanish Language.
The programme covers tuition, lodging, meal allowance, book allowance, monthly allowance and medical and dental allowance.
These costs are essentially met by the Cuban Government as part of its scholarship offer. The Fijian Government on its part through PSC, facilitates the scholarships and covers the return airfares in addition to supplementary allowance to help students settle in and effectively pursue their studies in Cuba.
Mr Chand said Government continued to explore opportunities in increasing the number of doctors in the country given the current shortage faced by the Ministry of Health.
He adds this offer by the Cuban Government is a huge boost to the Fiji government and the Ministry of Health.
Last years, Fiji sent its first four medical students to study at the Latin American School of Medicine (Escuela Latinoamericana de Medicina [ELAM]).
Both countries established diplomatic relations in 2003 and medicine was identified as one area of cooperation that could be explored given achievements in the provision of medicine training by the Government of Cuba.
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