David Hickey says what particularly characterises treatment in the Cuban approach to medicine in clinics and hospitals is the warm personal touch.
"They are short on technology but high on human capital - doctors, nurses and ancillary workers who have plenty of time to give the extra personal care to patients.
"This is particularly important when patients require lengthy rehab, which here is the best in the world. Diego Maradonna is currently receiving treatment at a clinic outside Havana for cocaine dependency.
"Doctors and nurses here are still motivated by the vocational impulse," Hickey says, "and they are revered. For them, the social value of their work is the reward."
One of the visiting physicians, Dr Jude McSharry, a GP trainee in Sligo, says it was a great experience to visit the school. "It was wonderful to learn about the great work the Cuban doctors do abroad."
He says he is proud of Hickey and the work he does here.
Jane Morissey from Tipperary, a medical student at the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, says it was a thoroughly satisfying day and that "visiting the medical school was a real eye-opener for me". It was a great opportunity to experience something of Cuba's medical system, she says.
David Gallagher of Merlin Park Hospital (nephrology) in Galway says it was a "great day, very interesting and very educational".
Others in the Irish group included Dr Valerie Morris of Blanchardstown (cardiology) Dublin, Peter O'Shaughnessy from University Hospital, Galway (haematology), and Enda Devitt of Portiuncula Hospital (geriatrics/medicine), Ballinasloe, Co Galway.
In Havana last month David Hickey was awarded his second honorary doctorate for his contribution to the Cuban healthcare system.