WASHINGTON (AP) - A Ghana-based Cuban doctor is seeking refugee status for himself and his family, the State Department said Wednesday.

Department spokesman Richard Boucher said the office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees has talked to the doctor and is evaluating the situation.

The State Department became aware of the case after Rep. Lincoln Diaz Balart, R-Fl., sent a letter to the U.S. ambassador to Ghana appealing for assistance for the family.

The U.N. agency will make a determination on whether they are entitled to refugee status under international rules.

The doctor apparently was part of a Cuban medical mission dispatched by the Cuban government to Ghana.

In a similar case last year, two Cuban doctors who opposed Cuba's coommunist government sought refugee status while on assignment in Zimbabwe. They were part of a 152-member Cuban medical team in Zimbabwe.

The U.N. refugee agency agreed the two were entitled to refugee status. The doctors expressed a desire to resettle in the United States and were allowed to do so after receiving permission from the U.S. immigration service.

Their case gained international attention when they were kidnapped by Zimbabwe security officers after their intention to defect became known.

In this latest case, it's unclear where the doctor and his family want to resettle.