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A group of Ghanaian medical students studying in Cuba has issued a desperate appeal to government authorities and the public after going 17 months without receiving stipends and a five-year book allowance due them from the Ghana Scholarship Secretariat.
In a statement copied to the media and signed by the National Union of Ghanaian Students in Cuba, the students described their situation as “unbearable,” citing severe economic hardships in Cuba compounded by the lack of financial support from home.
According to the group, they have been left stranded, unable to afford essential needs such as food, soap, sanitary supplies, and medical care. Cuba’s ongoing economic crisis, coupled with its communist government’s restrictions on foreign students working for income, has further worsened their plight.
“We are trapped in a system where we are expected to study, survive, and succeed but without any means to sustain ourselves,” the students lamented. “Many of us now survive on loans from foreign friends and fellow students, and the weight of debt and daily embarrassment has become too much to bear.”
They disclosed that some students are forced to hide from creditors before attending clinical duties to avoid humiliation. The situation, they added, has led to a decline in academic performance and taken a toll on their mental health.
Over the past year, the students say Ghanaian authorities have repeatedly promised that their allowances would be released “soon,” but no concrete action has followed. “We feel forgotten, abandoned, and voiceless,” the statement stressed.
The students are appealing for urgent intervention from the Scholarship Secretariat and the government to enable them to survive, focus on their studies, and return home to serve Ghana as doctors.
“We are not asking for luxury but rather just the bare minimum to survive,” they emphasized. “Please use your platforms to shed light on our plight. We are available to provide interviews, photos, testimonies, or any further information to verify and publish our story.”
As of press time, officials from the Scholarship Secretariat were yet to respond to the concerns raised by the Ghanaian students in Cuba.
