Kingston, Jamaica, 13 November 2020. Doctor José Armando Arronte, Head of the Cuban Medical Mission in Jamaica, gave an informal lecture this Thursday night to students from the Columbia University in New York, about the structure and operation of the Cuban Health System, particularly at the primary care level.
The videoconference was organized by Dr. Nathaniel Kratz, who graduated from the Latin American School of Medicine (ELAM) in Cuba, and PhD candidate Jessica Ho. They both are professors at the Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons (the university's medical school) based at Irving Medical Centre and Presbyterian Hospital in Manhattan, New York.
According to Dr. Kratz, given his students’ interest in knowing about health care in Cuba and the Cuban primary care system, he decided to invite a Cuban doctor to address them at Columbia and chose Dr. Arronte for his mastery of the subject and his previous experience as heading, for the Cuban part, the joint Cuba-US project to determine the causes of high rates of infant mortality in the Englewood neighbourhood, in Chicago, Illinois, in 2017.