James Thompson, Ph.D.: Cuba provides healthcare around the world
http://www.vheadline.com/readnews.asp?id=88055James Thompson, Ph.D.: One day in 1962 when I was a child of about 10, I was playing in the backyard of a neighborhood friend in Tulsa, Oklahoma. My friend had a squabble with his mother and I was shocked when he shouted at her, "I'm going to send you to Cuba!" I was shocked because it was the norm to believe that Cuba was the worst place on earth and saying this to your mother was one of the worst things imaginable that could be said.
Some 48 years later I went to Cuba to find out for myself. I was part of a delegation of health care professionals that visited Cuba from 1/8/10 to 1/18/10 to study the Cuban health care and mental health care system. The delegation was organized by the Marazul travel agency which is one of the few US travel agencies licensed to assist US citizens to travel to Cuba.
After nearly 50 years, there is still a travel ban for US citizens who want to travel to Cuba. Cuba is the only country in the world that US citizens cannot travel to freely.
Cubans put it very well. One Cuban woman told us, "Cuba is not Heaven and it is not Hell."
Our delegation, which used the organizations Witnesses for Peace and Latin America Working Group as consultants, toured many health care and mental health care facilities in Havana and visited some rural health care facilities in Puerto Esperanza. Many of our meetings occurred in the Martin Luther King, Jr. Center in Havana and we were served delicious meals there as well. Next door to the MLK, Jr. Center is the Ebenezer Baptist Church. We attended church services there and they were very rewarding. People were very gracious. The sermon centered on liberation from oppression. Church goers were very warm and hugged us and held our hands during the service. There was a real sense of solidarity with humans struggling for a better life expressed during the services.
Much has been written about the Cuban government restricting religious services, but I did not observe that at all. We visited functioning Catholic churches, the Baptist church and a Pentecostal church. In Cuba, health care and mental health care are considered to be rights just as they consider education a right. Health care and education are provided to all citizens at no cost. I was impressed by the loving, caring attitudes of the health care providers with which we met. I didn't see long lines at clinics in spite of the fact that the doctors are pro-active and go out in the neighborhoods to assist needy patients. Believe it or not, family doctors do routine house calls in each neighborhood. They have evening hours for working people. They emphasize prevention as well as treatment.
We also visited the world famous Latin American Medical School (ELAM) near Havana where foreign medical students are trained to be physicians free of charge. There are students from the US studying there and we met with them. The Cubans require that the students who are accepted to the medical school make a commitment to return to their communities post graduation and serve underserved populations, i.e. poor people and minorities. Formerly, ELAM was a naval academy, but was converted to a medical school by the government.
The Cubans have provided over 135,000 Cuban health care professionals to over 100 countries around the world. Countries including Venezuela, and Haiti as well as many countries in South America and Africa are the recipients of Cuban trained doctors. Cuba has an oil for doctors exchange program with Venezuela which has been beneficial for both countries.
Cubans also place a huge emphasis on culture and history. Former dictator Fulgencio Batista's Presidential Palace has been transformed into a Museum. Batista's Mansion is now a dance academy. The buildings surrounding Batista's home, which were formerly barracks, are now being used as schools.
The Cubans are literally beating their swords into plowshares.
Crime is virtually non-existent and it was safe to walk the streets of Havana at all times. The people were very friendly and helpful and seemed genuinely interested in meeting Americans. I met one elderly Afro-Cuban man who had lived in the US for 26 years and decided to return to Cuba to retire. We met two women from the US who decided to move to Cuba and they are married to Cuban husbands.
Currently, there is legislation before Congress aimed at lifting the travel ban to Cuba. The House version is HR 874 and the Senate version is S428. This is the time for people to contact their Congresspeople to express their opinions on this issue.
It seems ironic that in the US, which is a country that prides itself on being "free," citizens cannot travel to a beautiful country only 90 miles from our shores.
Printer-friendly format
Email this thread to a friend
Bookmark this thread
(1000+ posts)
Send PM |
Profile |
Ignore
