“Since 2007, Cuba has opened its doors to young Pakistanis who want to study medicine for free, and there are already many graduates and students in this friendly land,” Hassan told Prensa Latina.

He recalled the supportive help of over 2,500 doctors and health personnel from the largest of the Antilles when the South Asian nation suffered a devastating earthquake measuring 7.6 on the Richter scale on October 8, 2005.

“I was only 10 years old, but I have in my eyes and in my mind the image of when the Cuban doctors arrived. No one knew they would come, but they unexpectedly began to treat the victims of a disaster that killed more than 18,000 people in Pakistan and where the number of wounded exceeded 41,000,” he said.

“Cuba’s doctors were the first to arrive and the last to leave Pakistan, and that was appreciated by my country very deeply and prompted us to come and become doctors on this island of happy and kind people,” said Hassan, who is studying the fifth year of the career at the University of Medical Sciences in Santa Clara.

According to journalistic sources, the Cuban presence in that country for eight months managed to set up 32 field hospitals and cure more than 1.8 million patients and save 2,086 lives.

Hassan attended this Friday the Drums of Peace meeting organized by the Cuban Institute of Friendship with the Peoples, which also included a performance by the Provincial Choir of Villa Clara, a group of high school students and honored journalists.

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