A personal reflection on rural service 50 years later

Those of us who worked in Cuba's countryside-even for a short time-still carry "rural doctor" as a badge of honor and pride. A little more than 50 years ago, in 1960, I was one of the founders of Cuba's Rural Medical Service (RMS). It was the first of several public health programs implemented under the new revolutionary government and grew out of an initiative by our class of medical graduates, voting overwhelmingly to devote a period after graduation to serving in the island's rural and remote regions. There had never been anything like the RMS in those forgotten lands: free services for everyone, close-at-hand, and offered by qualified physicians who provided both preventive and curative care at any time of day or night, also dispensing free medications.