New York, Aug. 6 (VNA) – Over the past 40 years, 52,000 Cuban doctors and medical workers have voluntarily carried out international missions in 95 countries across the world in response to a call for international solidarity by the Cuban Government.
More than 17,000 Cuban doctors are working in 65 countries with 10,000 in Venezuela.
In response to the calls by Central American countries for medical assistance after the 1998 natural disaster that claimed 30,000 lives in the region, the Cuban Government established an integral health programme (PIS) in order to help these countries train healthcare workers.
About 3,100 Cuban doctors are working in such programmes in 22 developing countries.
In five years of the PIS, Cuban doctors treated 620,000 patients, and provided medical services to 200 hospitals in the world.
The country now has 68,155 doctors with the ratio of one doctor per 165 citizens .