Is the US Following Cuba’s Example?

According to the newspaper, "Jason was part of a 350-strong U.S.
military task force called New Horizons that last month spent two weeks
bivouacked in the remote jungle of Bocas del Toro, Panama, helping the
poor and buffing the image of the United States."

Meanwhile, a doctor named Jose from Baracoa, Cuba, has been working for
more than three years in Venezuela. No newspaper headlines celebrate
his dedication, but he is one among tens of thousands of Cuban
physicians and teachers working abroad.

Cuba has maintained a program of medical assistance in African and
Latin American nations begun over four decades ago. Currently more than
20,000 doctors are on one to four year missions in Venezuela, Honduras,
South Africa, Guatemala, Angola, Gambia, Ecuador, Bolivia, Algeria,
Ghana, Haiti, and a host of other nations.

The Times article continues: "[Jason is] helping Uncle Sam score points
in a high-stakes goodwill campaign playing out across Latin America in
poor towns like this one [Norteno, Panama]. The objective: challenging
the socialist campaigns of Cuba’s Fidel Castro and Venezuela’s Hugo
Chavez and winning over people."

On the one hand, it’s good to know that Washington has noticed that its
free market policies have left many without even the most basic
services. Certainly, any attempt by the US to rectify years of neglect
in Latin America, should be well received. However, the scope of the
occasional US medical assistance to the poor in Latin America can not
be compared with the ongoing large-scale Cuban effort in the region.

One fundamental difference between the brief US humanitarian voyages
and the comprehensive Cuban effort is that the Cuban physicians live
for years in remote communities. There, they not only treat existing
ailments but also stress a host of preventive public health measures
including appropriate sanitation and water use, and pre-and-post natal
care among others.

When cataracts or other eye diseases are detected, operations are
provided either in a host country clinic, often built and staffed with
Cuban assistance, or via flights to Cuba or Venezuela. Since 2004,
several hundred thousand people from Latin America and the Caribbean
have recovered their vision.

The US medical personnel will also perform some eye operations and
distribute glasses during their brief goodwill missions.

COMPETING TO TRAIN DOCTORS

The L.A. Times report notes that "the US will underwrite a four million
dollar regional medical training center in Panama City and that
Americans will help staff the center."

Such an effort should be welcomed as a modest attempt to do what Cuba
does on a large scale: provide full scholarships to low-income Latin
Americans to study medicine on the island, a program that graduated
2,910 doctors in 2005 and 2006.

Currently over 10,000 students from low-income families in 29 countries
are studying at the Havana-based Latin American School of Medicine
(ELAM). In the year 2000, Cuba also extended the scholarship offer to
include students from the United States. Currently, around 90 are at
the med school.

However, graduating doctors is not enough to guarantee assistance to
the millions of Latin Americans without health care, the target group
of the long-term Cuban project.

So, besides teaching medicine, the Cuban program seeks to instill a
commitment in the students to serve in their poor rural or urban
communities upon returning home. It also encourages their local and
national governments to provide a public health slot to facilitate
their efforts.

The L.A. Times goes on to make the claim that the Cuban program is some
how flawed because a small percentage of its doctors take up the Bush
administration’s highly publicized brain drain proposition that makes
any Cuban medical professional sent abroad eligible for immediate
entrance and residence in the US.

However, just like the occasional boxing champ or baseball player that
opts for the big bucks, Cuba has shown it is prepared to replace those
doctors who swallow Washington’s hook in hope of a higher salary.

IF BUSH IS SERIOUS ABOUT HELPING HERE’S HOW

William Eaton, the US Ambassador to Panama said President Bush’s recent
trip to the region was evidence of the new emphasis Washington is
placing on improving Latin American relations. Healthcare has become an
important part of the U.S. "relations focus," said the L.A Times
article.

If we give the Bush administration the benefit of the doubt and applaud
anything that stresses human well-being, there is another pending
health calamity where Washington could lend a big hand.

In 2001, Cuba offered the United Nations 4,000 doctors to work year
round in the African countries most affected by HIV/AIDS if the US,
Europe and other developed nations would supply the anti-retroviral
medicines, equipment and material resources need for prevention
programs and treatment.

Year after year, the offer has been repeated, and year after year it
has fallen on deaf ears. Be it to shore up an uncaring image or for
humanitarian reasons, now would be the perfect time for the US to join
Cuba and make a significant difference in so many people’s lives.

Author: Circles Robinson

(Circles Robinson is a US journalist in Havana. His articles and
commentaries can be read at www.circlesonline.blogspot.com)