Cuba’s health service

[alanjjohnstone]

Regardless of our wider criticisms of Castroism many of us can't help but possess a softer attitude for the Cuban medical service and the genuine successes it has had over the years , not for simply  for Cubans but for many parts of the world, where i think Castro realised it's better to send  medical teams than than send in the marines. (Angola being an exception)

This was an interesting article on Al Jazeera about it. I know this quote will get the hackles up

http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/2015/04/cuba-medical-magicians-150430073632978.html

 

Quote:

 "American doctors are different from those in Cuba," Gonzalez said. "There, they really don't care about human suffering and the number one goal of solving patients' problems. They see medicine as a business first and foremost. Cuban doctors, on the other hand, see people suffering and the need to alleviate that. Because of our socialist system, it has nothing to do with profit."

But there are certain if rare aspects of current society that offers us hope…one is the numbers of people who care about humanitarian causes and volunteer for charity work…and perhaps also when the Cuban doctor said

Quote:

"When you study medicine here it's for love, not money. You become a doctor because you want to help people – that's all."

and when another stated 

Quote:

"We are taught in medical school that the most important thing is the patient and the health of the people, not just Cubans, but people around the world," said Fernandez, a paediatrician

We often use examples of how capitalism socialised production and distribution to the benefit of socialism. Would it be a heresy to credit the Cuban health service of providing an example of a genuine socialised health system…something the NHS could evolve into in socialism?

That's my thought for today, comrade

[Victor]

Depends what you mean by a "genuine socialised health system".  Not heresy though.  I'm just not sure if lauding the Cuban system on a socialist basis reflects reality. Also, I imagine that health workers in Cuba are generally quite keen not to be seen to criticise the health system there (though I rely here on Western propaganda and so could be wrong about that – I admit that I do not know a great deal about Cuba). 

[Author]

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