Havana, Cuba, Feb 14, 2007 / 09:27 am
33 doctors and lawyers from the Diocese of Santa Clara in Cuba are obtaining their Master’s degree in Bioethics from the St. Vincent the Martyr Catholic University of Valencia, Spain.
University officials said the first part of the program, led by Spanish priest Father Blas Silvestre, will end in June and the beginning of the second part may be set for next September. In Cuba, “the country with the oldest population in America, there is great interest over the issue of abortion, and this has a great effect on the field of bioethics,” Father Silvestre said. He said other issues of great interest in Cuba were “genetics, euthanasia, and the treatment of the psychiatrically infirm.”
Father Silvestre said he was impressed by how well the course was received by health care professionals and lawyers in Cuba. “The students, heath care professionals, whether Catholic or not, have appreciated the atmosphere of freedom, dialogue and sensibility that the Master’s program has offered.”
The faculty of the program, which ends with a research project, includes professors from Cuba and Europe, ranging from doctors to psychologists to lawyers.
Students participating in the program are receiving instruction in some cases over the internet, with online instructions and virtual tutoring.