Cienfuegos, January 5 (RHC-PL) -- Cuba will graduate nearly 600 Pakistani doctors next February, announced Muhammad Essa Khan, representative of the future doctors at the Medical University of Cienfuegos.

Of this number, 288 had studied at the Medical University of Cienfuegos, 250 kilometers southeast of Havana and 305 medical students in neighboring Sancti Spiritus.

These health professionals will join nearly 300 others from Pakistan, who received their diplomas in the central city of Santa Clara, in February last year.

Essa Khan recalled that the possibility of studying medicine in Cuba emerged following the earthquake that devastated a vast region of northern Pakistan on October 8, 2005, when the Cuban government offered scholarships for nearly 1000 young students.

Speaking about the advantages of studying medicine in Cuba, Essa Khan cited the knowledge of the Spanish language, the humanist nature of the medical practice in Cuba and the preventive nature of the national healthcare system.