Cuban Health Care, Myth or Cuentos de Hadas?

[protocol rv]

I found this essay about Cuban health care. Since I haven't been in Cuba, I can't say if it's true or not, but it seems there's more to it than the glowing health care reports we hear from some:

http://www.cubaverdad.net/references/for_cubans_a_bitter_pill.htm

"...the residents of Moron are luckier than most Cubans because many of them work in the nearby resorts, where they often receive foreign medications as tips.

"We know how difficult life is here, so when we come for a vacation, we always bring a few bottles of antibiotics and Tylenol," says Laura, a housewife from Oakville, Ont., who was recently vacationing at a large resort in nearby Cayo Coco.
A 72-year-old pensioner from Toronto who did not want to be identified also said she had arrived for her recent vacation well- stocked with tubes of antibiotic cream, Aspirin, decongestants and bandages.

"My doctor in Toronto told me that there is nothing available in Cuba, so I came prepared just in case I needed any of these things for myself," she said. "But I am leaving most of what I brought for the maids and the bartender."

For years, supporters of the Communist regime of Fidel Castro have praised the island's universal health care system as a model for the developing world. Indeed, Cuba has the world's highest concentration of physicians and health care is free. "If you need the most complicated operation, you can get it at a Cuban hospital," Estela said. "But medicines are the problem."

After the Soviet Union stopped sending Cuba US$5-billion in annual funding to prop up its economy, the health care system, like most social services, fell on difficult times. In common with other buildings on the Communist island, hospitals are falling apart, surgeons lack basic supplies and must re-use latex gloves. Patients must buy their own sutures on the black market and provide bedsheets and food for extended hospital stays. The situation is so bad that a Canadian pro-Castro group urges tourists in a recent issue of its monthly newsletter to take "a suitcase full of medical supplies to drop off at a local clinic or hospital with a letter about humanitarian aid."

[naaman fletcher]

1. I have not been there either

Although I am planning to go within the next year (in my dreams that is, of course I would never break the law) but you can tell it's a sham just from the religious way any negative post about Cuba is responded to with "But they have such good healthcare!". If they actually had such good healthcare, people wouldn't feel compelled to so religiously praise it.

[naaman fletcher]

2. It's like the Christians Republicans who turn out to be gay (warning graphic photos)

It was obvious from the fact that they protest too much. It's fairly clear that the Cuban health care thing is a big lie.

Oh, here are some pictures of Cuban health care (of course, Eferrari and others won't comment on these other than to criticize the source and bring up some diversion about Colombia)

Hospital bed:

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A patient:

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Here's what happens to psychiatric patients when the temperature drops (note who emaciated they were anyway):

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