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FROM
CUBA
The route of a crisis
Rafael Ferro Salas,
Abdala Press
PINAR DEL RIO, Cuba - November (www.cubanet.org)
- The health sector is the most critical
point of the present crisis of services
in Cuba.
The authorities have as their political
strategy to show that the island is a world
power in public health; but the reality
is very different.
Polyclinics, hospitals, rehabilitation
centers and pharmacies have as a common
denominator the scarcity of the most-needed
medicines. But where the deterioration in
medical services reaches its climax is in
the treatment of patients and visitors to
those centers.
The stomatology clinics have been turned
into real torture chambers, due to the fact
that in nearly all of them there's no anesthesia
needed for tooth extractions and other procedures.
The situation gets worse for residents
of the most vulnerable sectors of the population,
since the best conditions exist for three
groups: foreign tourists, members of the
government hierarchy, and citizens with
excess monetary resources who can pay the
doctors and paramedics for the services
rendered. The slogan, "Free health
care for all", is a constant bad joke
in the face of the reality lived out.
The health sector hasn't escaped the state's
justification of blaming the United States'
economic embargo. But all these medicines
that are lost and only appear when money
comes on the scene have nothing to do with
the embargo, and people know it. Everyone
in Cuba knows that public health was converted
a long time ago into a privilege for those
who rule and possible only for the "haves."
Regla León Correa, 44, says she
visited a health center known as "Turcios
Limas" several days ago. The place
is a kind of multi-purpose polyclinic. She
went to be treated for an aching molar.
"I arrived at the place and they immediately
directed me inside. I was surprised. They
had nowhere to put me. It seemed like I
was in another country. After a while, when
they'd finished with me, I left and spoke
with a girlfriend of mine who was waiting
outside to be treated. I explained how well
they'd treated me and then she said to me,
laughing at my innocence: 'They treated
you well today because there's a visit of
bosses who've come from Havana. Those who
come to have their teeth pulled tomorrow
won't have any desire to go back to a dentist
ever again.' And my friend was absolutely
right. Those without money are forced to
have their teeth extracted without anesthesia,
that's awful."
To acquire needed medicines in the pharmacies
and dispensaries where they're produced
is a nearly impossible task for the Cuban
citizen who doesn't have good money at hand.
You arrive at those places with the doctor's
prescription and the order of the day is
"there is none" or "that
medicine's lacking." Then you're obliged
to call the attendant aside and place an
amount of money in their hands which doubles
the medicine's cost. Much better if you
present with dollars."
Laritza Arroyo Méndez, 28, indicates
she's had no problems for some time acquiring
the medicines she needs for her sick grandmother.
Laritiza's parents live in the United States
and they send her money to cover her necessities
and those of the sick grandmother. "I
go to a pharmacy where they know me and
know I receive dollars from abroad, and
they treat me well because I pay well. The
medicines always appear when I go."
Moreover, it's also good to have a friend
in those places. Even better if you're a
colleague of those who fill the prescriptions
in the pharmacies or if you have connections
with the administrative staff.
Rubén Montesino Urrutia, 30, works
in the health care sector in the province.
He's employed as an x-ray technician in
the "Abel Santamaría" provincial
hospital in Pinar del Río. He told
us he's known in nearly all the pharmacies.
"Many of those who work there have
needed me. To get an x-ray done takes a
lot of work, the x-ray equipment is almost
never functioning in the hospitals (there
are two hospitals in Pinar del Río
covering the 14 municipalities in the province).
When those who work in the pharmacies or
one of their friends need to have an x-ray
done, they send the person to me. I take
care of them and afterwards they're obliged
to take care of me as well when I'm in need."
Faced with this crisis situation in health
services for the population, the authorities
resort to political speeches and put the
eternal "enemy" of all misfortunes,
the United States, in the public arena.
But Cubans know only too well that the enemy
is internal and has a name: the inadequacy
of a system in route of a crisis.
Versión
original en español
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