HAVANA, September 10 (María Elena Rodríguez, Cuba-Verdad) – The Ministry of Public Health has embarked on a campaign to uncover and eradicate corruption in dental clinics it is calling "Operation Shame."
The Ministry is planting "spies" in the clinics’ waiting rooms who pose as patients and try to bribe the personnel of the clinics to gather evidence of charging for dental services, which is supposed to be free in Cuba.
The reason dental clinics’ employees are susceptible to bribes is that there is a tremendous shortage of materials and supplies and desperate patients are willing to offer "gifts" or gratuities to secure service for themselves.
Personnel in turn are very poorly paid and gladly accept any additional income.
The practice started in 1987 and increased with the beginning of the so-called special period (the cut-off of Soviet subsidies) in 1989. At present there are precious few materials available, and sometimes what there is is either out of date or of very poor quality.
Curiously, the patients themselves seem to accept the matter of the gifts as another natural instance of "resolver," the peculiar Cuban talent for making do in a next to impossible situation.
"I have been to the clinic and have been told that there are no sterile instruments because there is no paper to wrap them or because the autoclave is broken. As you see, the only way out is through friendship or the gifts," said one man who didn’t want his name used. Referring to
the dentists’ and technicians’ practice of accepting bribes, he added "They have to live too."
The Provincial Public Health Administration in the city of Havana has determined that any one caught accepting gifts will be immediately fired, his or her professional credentials will be invalidated, and he or she will be publicly repudiated by colleagues. Participation in the event is
obligatory for the colleagues.
Meanwhile, some point out that the same Health Administration has not done anything to alleviate the chronic shortage of supplies that causes the problem in the first place.
Versión original en español
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