ISLAMABAD, Feb 22: The Cuban government has announced 1,000 scholarships mainly in the health sector for Pakistani students and a proposal has been sent to the government in this regard.

This was stated by Elizabeth Valdes-Miranda Fernandez, an official of the Cuban foreign affairs ministry, while talking to mediapersons here on Wednesday.

She said Cuba had an advanced health setup and its 2,823 doctors and paramedics were working in 70 countries. Pakistani doctors after getting scholarships would be trained in Cuba.

Over 30,000 students from Latin America and Asia were studying medicines in different Cuban universities.

She said more patients from the quake-hit areas would be taken to Cuba for advance treatment.

Cuban doctors had already taken 14 patients along with one attendant each to Cuba and they were getting modern treatment there, Ms Fernandez added.

She said her country was planning to train Pakistani doctors who would replace their Cuban counterparts to use the hospitals set up in the earthquake-hit areas.

“Our own doctors are going back in phases but will leave the field hospitals and equipment behind. “We want to train Pakistani doctors so that they could be posted in the Cuban hospitals in the earthquake-hit areas,” she observed.

The first group of Cuban doctors arrived in Pakistan on October 14. This group has been working in the earthquake-hit areas of NWFP and Azad Kashmir. They have set up 39 hospitals in these areas and providing modern healthcare to the survivors.

The first batch of 78 doctors and paramedics left Pakistan for Cuba a week ago and Pakistan hosted a farewell reception in their honour and highly appreciated their services. One Cuban doctor also died in the quake-hit areas.

So far, the Cuban doctors have examined 9,305,18 patients and operated upon 7,790 injured.