Florida Plans To Restrict Access For IMGs from Cuba

Dear Friends and Colleagues;
Again, Florida is leading the field in "innovative thinking" regarding International Medical Graduates (IMGs) .
This time a lawmaker introduced a bill that wouldn't allow Americans who get their medical degree in Cuba to practice medicine in Florida The bill is aimed at students who accept scholarships from the Cuban government to attend the Latin American School of Medical Sciences in Havana. About 150 American students are currently enrolled in the school and would be affected, according to information provided to the committee by the bill sponsor, Rep. Eddy Gonzalez, R-Hialeah.
Obviously, this bill is based purely on ideological grounds and should be rejected. What's next? Physicians who study abroad at "Muslim schools" or obtained a medical degree from those countries belonging to the "axis of evil."
I call upon the AAFP and AMA to oppose such an action.
Yours
Bernd
Chair, Florida Medical Association IMG Section & Past Chair of the AMA IMG Governing Council

Posted on Tue, Mar. 18, 2008
Bill would make Cuban medical degree worthless

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Americans who get their medical degree in Cuba wouldn't be allowed to practice medicine in Florida under a bill discussed by the House Health Quality Committee.

The panel didn't vote on the bill (HB 685) but could as early as next week.

The measure is aimed at students who accept scholarships from the Cuban government to attend the Latin American School of Medical Sciences in Havana. About 150 American students are currently enrolled in the school and would be affected, according to information provided to the committee by the bill sponsor, Rep. Eddy Gonzalez, R-Hialeah.

According to the information provided by Gonzalez, eight American students have graduated from the school and are currently practicing in the United States, but none are working in Florida. Since no graduates of the program have Florida medical licenses, the bill would only affect those graduates who try to become licensed here in the future.

The scholarship program, coordinated by an organization called the Interreligious Foundation for Community Organization, takes advantage of an exception in the U.S. embargo of Cuba for educational programs. The scholarships are open to Americans who go to Cuba for a 6-year medical school program and then agree to return to the United States to practice medicine in poor or underserved communities in the United States.

If the measure were to pass, Florida would be the first U.S. state to bar graduates of the program from practicing medicine here.