Wikileaks Dams Healthcare in Cuba

The public and private face of healthcare in Cuba

Lots of juicy and revealing comments were revealed in A U.S. diplomatic cable from Havana in 2008 authored by a nurse, officially a Foreign Service Health Practitioner (FSHP) who noted the problems in Cuba’s public health system. (Source:  miamiherald.com 12/28/10).

According to the article, the nurse who wrote the dispatch had lived in Havana for 2 ½ years.

Medical Tourism in Cuba

The cable acknowledged that medical institutions reserved for Cuba’s ruling elites and foreigners who pay in hard currencies “are hygienically qualified, and have a wide array of diagnostic equipment with a full complement of laboratories, well-stocked pharmacies, and private patient suites with cable television and bathrooms.”

Michael Moore’s Cuba

The nurse’s report states specific horrific conditions in and the appalling condition of four Havana hospitals in sharp contrast to the The Hermanos Ameijeiras Hospital, part of which is reserved for foreign patients and was featured in the Michael Moore documentary Sicko.

“Hospitals and clinics used by average Cubans don’t come close, the dispatch added, providing details on the FSHP’s visits to four Havana hospitals:

According to the nurse, the exterior of the Ramon Gonzalez Coro OB-Gyn hospital was “dilapidated and crumbling” and its Newborn Intensive Care Unit was “using a very old infant `Bird’ respirator/ventilator — the model used in the U.S. in the 1970s.”

During a visit to the Calixto Garcia Hospital, which serves only Cubans, the U.S. nurse “was struck by the shabbiness of the facility . . .and the lack of everything (medical supplies, privacy, professional care staff). To the FSHP it was reminiscent of a scene from some of the poorest countries in the world.”

At the Salvador Allende Hospital, the emergency room appeared “very orderly, clean and organized.” But the rest of the facility was “in shambles” and guards by the entrance “smelled of alcohol.”

“Patients had to bring their own light bulbs if they wanted light in their rooms. The switch plates and knobs had been stolen from most of the rooms so one had to connect bare wires to get electricity,” the dispatch reported.

Health Care for the Average José

At one OB-Gyn hospital, the dispatch reported, the staff “used a primitive manual vacuum to aspirate” the womb of a Cuban woman who had a miscarriage “without any anesthesia or pain medicine. She was offered no . . . follow up appointments.”

A 6-year old boy with bone cancer could only be visited at a hospital by his parents for “limited hours,” the cable added.

Cancer patients receiving chemotherapy or radiation get “little in the way of symptom or side-effects care . . . that is critically important in being able to continue treatments, let alone provide comfort to an already emotionally distraught victim,” the dispatch noted.

“Cancer patients are not provided with, nor can they find locally, simple medications such as Aspirin, Tylenol, skin lotions, vitamins, etc.,” it added.

HIV-positive Cubans have only one facility, the Instituto Pedro Kouri in Havana, that can provide specialty care and medications, the cable noted. Because of transportation problems and costs, some patients from the provinces may be seen only once per year.

Kouri institute patients can wait months for an appointment, “but can often move ahead in line by offering a gift,” the dispatch added. “We are told five Cuban convertible pesos (approximately USD 5.40) can get one an x-ray.”

And on and on…. Read the full article “Cables spotlight health woes in Cuba”.

The Importance of First-Person Reports

I find it interesting that the article attempts to minimize the authenticity of this nurse’s first-person accounts as “a string of anecdotes” gathered by the FSHP from basically working class Cubans and foreign medical students.

“The U.S. cable is not an in-depth assessment of Cuba’s health system. Rather, it’s a string of anecdotes gathered by the FSHP from Cubans such as “manicurists, masseuses, hair stylists, chauffeurs, musicians, artists, yoga teachers, tailors, as well as HIV/AIDS and cancer patients, physicians, and foreign medical students.”

I would argue that first-person accounts  carry the authenticity of not being whitewashed by an organization funded by special interests or government  — and that at least when considering the opinion of an individual  you don’t have to worry about an organized public relations spin that shreds from an issue any semblance of truth.

What’s needed is more unfiltered conversations rather than in-depth assessments sponsored by who knows who.

We welcome opinions from real people on the Traveling4Health community; especially opinions expressed by those, like this nurse, who are qualified to speak on topics related to their expertise. 

I say Vive la Community!!