Fidel Congratulates ‘Giron’ Med School Graduates

HAVANA TIMES — The leader of the Cuban Revolution, Fidel Castro, on Wednesday sent written congratulations to all graduates of the Victory at Giron Institute of Basic and Pre-Clinical Medical Sciences in Havana, reported the Prensa Latina news agency.

In a message read by Roberto Morales, the Minister of Public Health, Fidel Castro recalled that five decades ago that teaching center was opened “in response to the criminal action by the neighboring empire, which lured away the majority of the 6,000 physicians on the island at that time with promises of employment (in the United States).”

Meanwhile, the institute — which was marking the beginning of the mass training of doctors on the island — sent the former Cuban president a certificate of recognition “for being the founder and the driving force behind the development of the Cuban public health care system.”

Fidel Castro has not been seen in public for over a half year and stopped writing his frequent reflections in June. Amid speculation about his health his son Alex said last week that the ex-president is doing well, keeping up with his reading and exercise.