Public Health In Cuba, Between Missions, Rabies and Dengue Fever

Public Health In Cuba, Between Missions, Rabies and Dengue Fever / Juan
Juan Almeida
Posted on June 12, 2014

The Cuban Ministry of Public Health turned 105 years old.
Congratulations. Personally I think that health is the most precious
non-material heritage a human being can count on. It should be
considered a right for all citizens of the world and a responsibility of
each State.

It is sad to know that in spite of the wide arsenal and enormous
development that medicine world wide counts on, almost 10 million
infants and pregnant women die prematurely each year for causes that, in
large measure, are preventable. Such a powerful reason leads me to
applaud the collaboration that, in medical matters, the Ministry of
Public Health (MINSAP) and Cuban doctors offer in different countries.

Ignoring this would be a form of blindness; but clearly, because there
is always a why, we should not forget that behind this so fiercely kind
action, health has also a conquistador nature.

Sending doctors to the world is a charming and very wise way of creating
an army of believers comprised of grateful people. For each cured
patient, there is much more than a satisfied human being. It seems to me
a false altruism that goes in search of lights, flowers, applause and
followers.

It is a subtle way of manipulating the opinion of each assisted patient,
his friends, acquaintances and family members, in order to capitalize on
his logical and sincere appreciation. It is investing in publicity to
provide in pills "revolutionary" ideals. Sad paradox, because such
performance is much more than a simple act of charity; it is a crude
strategy to increase the influence of the Cuban government in the
Americas and the world, or to change the balance of forces in certain
parts of the planet.

Right now, with the purpose of silencing the students who daily protest
in the streets of Venezuela, in order to promote votes in favor of the
ruling government, President Nicolas Maduro, with a plain loss in
popularity, asked his Cuban counterpart to increase, within the next 45
days, the personnel of the medical mission with a new campaign called
"Neighborhood inside but well inside," which is forecast to place
medical clinics in places of difficult access with the help of the army,
mayor's offices, and community leaders.

In this new binge of politicized healthiness, Cuban doctors will
confront very adverse scenarios, and not because of dealing with going
to areas in which extreme poverty reigns, but because in these zones —
according to the report that Havana's MINSAP has — there are no
guarantees of security for medical personnel who will live badly in
tents where there do not even exist adequate conditions for storing
medicine. Nevertheless, this month of June will be "the month of
missions" with the launch and "re-launch" of social programs to buy
votes and bully hopes.

Of all this, the worst is that while they send thousands of Cuban
doctors abroad, domestic health is neglected. Some days ago, the health
and epidemiological group from Havana City issued an alert that they
have tried to hide; but however much they persist in regulating the
contents of the national press under constant censorship; "when the
press shuts up, the walls speak." It is rumored in the halls of the
Ministry of Public Health about the recent detection of at least two
cases of an illness that many years ago was eradicated on the Island,
rabies in humans transmitted by ferrets, bats, and/or stray dogs.

When I say it; the Revolution's book should be entitled "55 Years of
Lies and Perversion."

Translated by mlk.

9 June 2014

Source: Public Health In Cuba, Between Missions, Rabies and Dengue Fever
/ Juan Juan Almeida | Translating Cuba -
http://translatingcuba.com/public-health-in-cuba-between-missions-rabies-and-dengue-fever-juan-juan-almeida/