|
PINAR DEL RIO, June 10 (Víctor Rolando Arroyo, UPECI /
www.cubanet.org) - Forty of the 85 ambulances in Pinar del Río province
are out of commission due to lack of spare parts, and there’s no relief in
sight.
The age and lack of uniformity of the fleet only compound the problem. There
are 18 different car brands in the fleet; most are old, some are older. The
usual service life of an ambulance in the province is 15 to 20 years.
Approximately 30 percent were donated by foreign organizations or governments.
Since every aspect of economic activity in Cuba is planned, there is a
service plan for the use of ambulances. It calls for each ambulance to transport
about 8,600 patients per year. That’s one patient per hour, 24 hours a day,
every day of the year. With half of them out of service at any given time, the
ones running must try to transport upwards of 16,000, straining the already
decaying fleet even more and leaving a lot of patients to their own devices.
Already, dozens of cities and towns in the province cannot count on having
an ambulance available when needed. The situation, according to an expert in the
field who chose to remain anonymous, can only be expected to worsen.
Versión
original en español
CubaNet does not require sole rights from its
contributors. We authorize the reproduction and distribution of this article as
long as the source is credited.
| 
