Page 24 - IB AUG 2019

Health

late in 2009 therefore only had one month
to learn to read, speak and write Spanish,”
says Kana. But she said it moulded them
to be stronger for what they would have
to face for the next seven years.
That included so many new and dif-
ferent things, from a Solomon Islander’s
background and perspective. For example,
the attention Cubans paid to the way they
dress made a big impression. Priscilla
noticed that cleaners at the training insti-
tute dressed very neatly. It is sometimes
impossible to judge a person walking on
the street as to what their job might be just
by appearances, says Kana. She noticed
that punctuality and the respect and use
of time is an integral part of the Cuban
lifestyle. “The Cubans for one, are ac-
customed to respect queues regardless of
whether they are waiting for a bus, a bank
teller or the use of a public restroom.”
Kana said Cubans believe that if you
can live and survive in Cuba, you can live
and survive in any other part of the world.
Medical training in Cuban medical
schools has a robust public health focus
and the curriculum is unique when com-
pared to a typical western version of a
medical school, where field work forms a
relatively small portion of undergraduate
medical study.
In Fiji and Papua New Guinea, medical
schools have a public health component,
however the practical learning application
Dr Priscilla Kana attends to a patient Photo: Dorothy Wickham and exposure timeframe is much less than
that of Cuban medical schools. Kana and
Understanding history her classmates had to “adopt” a given
community in Cuba as their community
to study and learn from. This is a require-
to plan the future ment for every class at the medical school
Kana attended, and every class works
with their allocated individual communi-
A Solomons doctor in Cuba ties for the entire seven years of medi-
cal school. Each community is used by
each class as the central theme in all the
primary foundation learning, including
By Dorothy Wickham ing in Cuba. ancestral, cultural, social, pharmaceutical
“For me Cuba was an experience so and medical histories.
THE journey of Pacific Islands medical different. It even has a cold season which Kana reveals, “in Cuban medical
students who study in Cuba can be dif- was a surprise,” says Kana. “Even more schools, the medical teaching starts off
ficult. interesting was the language, food, with a brief and broad history of hu-
One such graduate, Solomon Islander culture and mannerisms of the people,” mankind to form the foundation of medi-
Priscilla Druscilla Kana, is currently com- she says. cal knowledge. Wars usually were the
pleting a two-year internship program at Kana was to spend three years in Ha- catalyst for medical innovations in history
the National Referral Hospital in Honiara. vana at the Escuela Latino Americana and accordingly this type of medical cur-
Priscilla hails from Nusa Roviana in the de Medicine (ELAM), and then went to riculum which includes relevant history
Western province and from Ro’one in the Matanzas province for another four years. uniquely provides a holistic approach to
south of Malaita province. The Cuban medical training institute that the teaching of medicine. To plan ones’
“I was at USP centre in Honiara for only she attended hosts international students future, one has to understand the history
one year when I heard about the Cuban from Africa, Asia, Caribbean nations, of the present.”
medical scholarship,” says Dr Kana. She United States of America, and the South As each medical school year progresses,
started her training in Cuba in 2009 and Pacific island countries. all the clinical and health learning is re-
was part of the third group the Solomon In their first year, all international stu- lated to the “adopted” community. In this
Islands government sent for medical train- dents have to learn Spanish. “We arrived way the students learn to have a strong

24 Islands Business, August 2019