Havana, October 3 (AIN-RHC)-- Cuba has done for the world what the world has not yet done for itself, said the former Health Minister of El Salvador Dr. Maria Isabel Rodriguez.

In an exclusive interview, the distinguished professor acknowledged Cuba's role internationally in the field of medical education and in the attention to the health of the population in spite of the blockade imposed by the United States on the country for over half a century now.

On Wednesday, Rodriguez received the Honoris Causa Doctorate in Medical Sciences given by Havana's University of Medical Sciences, as an acknowledgement of her valuable contributions to teaching and scientific research, within the framework of the 2nd International Conference of Medical Education for the 21 st century, underway in Havana until Friday.

She said that since 1972 she has been working in cooperation with Cuban medical universities in their faculties and with the island's health system.

A cardiologist by profession, with post-graduate degrees in the area of cardiovascular physiology, she is a professor in the Basic Sciences and was the first dean of the Faculty of Medicine of El Salvador in the 1967-1971 period.

Although 92 years old, she is still active and is an advisor to her country's President in the field of education and health, Rodriguez commented.

For 22 years, she was an official of the Pan-American Health Organization and developed programs in various countries, among them Cuba, Mexico, Venezuela and the Dominican Republic, where she worked as representative of that international organization and later for over a decade in Washington.