“Our doctors are not health care merchants. They receive what they need to live and I hope they will receive more every year as our economy continues to recover and advance.”
“Over the past seven years our battle for solidarity and for the training of doctors from Cuba and from other sister nations has been intense and ever-increasing. The means and the methodology have been incredibly revolutionized, and theoretical and practical training has considerably surpassed that which had traditionally prevailed throughout history. It would be more accurate to say that the traditional form of training has been improved several times over. ”
“Our youth always keeps alive the memory of those medical students and of all those students who fought against tyrannical and corrupt governments.”
“On the other hand, I can’t help but think of a world where over one-third of the population have no access to medical care or the basic medicines required to ensure health. And this situation will be aggravated as climate change, and water and food shortage worsen in a globalized world where the population grows, the forests disappear, the arable land decreases, the air is more polluted, and the human species inhabiting it –which emerged less than 200 thousand years back, that is, 3.5 billion years after the first forms of life on the planet—is running the real risk of annihilation.”
"We are offering to train professionals who are prepared to struggle against death. We shall prove that there is a solution to many of the planet’s tragedies. We are proving that man can and must better himself. We are proving the value of conscience and ethics. We are offering life."
"It is necessary to train the doctors needed in the countryside, in the villages, in the poor and marginalized neighborhoods of Third World cities. Even in extremely rich countries like the United States, tens of millions of Afro-Americans, Indians, Latin American immigrants, Haitians and many others have no healthcare programs or medical care".
"Our doctors, our scientists, our pharmacists, and in particular the members of the ‘Henry Reeve’ Contingent, must know all there is to know about AIDS, the most efficient ways to combat it, and above all they should realize that these methods must be adapted to the specific conditions of each country.".
"The ‘Henry Reeve’ Contingent can do more than just help the population in the event of a hurricane, flood and other similar natural disasters. Certain epidemics represent real natural and social disasters."
"The tens of thousands of specialists in Comprehensive General Medicine, as well as Cuban Nursing graduates and healthcare professionals who are presently on missions abroad, or who have completed them, represent an infinite reserve for the ‘Henry Reeve’ Contingent."
"Graduating as a doctor is like opening a door to a long road leading to the noblest action that a human being can do for others".