HAVANA.- (ACN) Medical graduate Felierix Castro said on Monday in Sancti Spiritus that the US brain drain policy took many friends away from him when recalling that some medical students of his generation were seduced for the Medical Parole Program.

He explained that this US State Department policy incites young medical professionals cooperating in third countries to abandon their missions and migrate to the US.

This policy made an impact on the Cuban international medical cooperation and brought pain to their families.

This is not a secret said the medical graduate that the doctors that left their mission were trying to improve their economic conditions, and for this reason they have left behind years of intense studies in addition to the separation of their families.

In this sense, the Joint Declaration signed and issues last Thursday by both countries constitutes an important step in ending one of the discriminatory policies created by the US, said Castro who is currently preparing to become the Vice Director of a policlinic in the community of Banao.

He added that he knows of many that have regretted taken the decision of going to the US and finding a different reality of what originally was promised.

They have had to begin from scratch in their profession despite having graduated with high grades and with opportunities of advancing in their studies without paying a dime on the island.

Many will not be able to revalidate their graduate diploma or have seen many people die due to a lack of medical insurance and then they have realized the difference between both systems regarding the basic human rights, said the doctor.

Lisset Dominguez, young dentist, commented that despite current difficulties that negatively impact in the free and universal Cuban medical assistance, like the US blockade, we cannot leave out the fact that the US policy was one of the major problems affecting the island’s health care system.

However, she said, I think there is still a lot to do in normalizing bilateral ties like the elimination of the Cuban Adjustment Act, the return of the illegally occupied US Naval base in Guantanamo, in addition to lifting the economic, commercial and financial blockade against the island.