[Marxism] cuban doctors in Vzla

["michael a. lebowitz" <mlebowit@xxxxxx>]

Steve Heeren wrote:

excellent article but i find the "10,000 Cuban MD's" hard to believe.
were they all straight out of cuba? if so, didn't that decimate  cuban
medical personnel big time? ( could believe 100 or maybe 1,000, but
10,000!?)
---------------

        Walter Lippmann can answer this better. I can't give numbers
(haven't done a head-count), but 10,000 doctors is the number that was
widely cited in Venezuela. (I think it may be higher now.) You have to
understand that there are several doctors, hygienists, etc to every poor
neighbourhood, doing house calls, running clinics, etc. Some of these may
be there instead of going to other countries (eg, Haiti) because Cuba has
for some time provided this support to poor countries. But, yes, the
feedback that I had at one point was that the impact in Cuba was quite
noticeable and there was a period in which there was muttering about
reduced doctor availability until the importance for Cuba of the Venezuelan
connection became quite clear. At this point, with the gains in Cuban
pensions and the minimum wage plus the addition of items like rice cookers
for general distribution (free to poor families), again my sense is that
the benefits are recognised. Walter's been hanging out there (lucky guy!),
so can fill us all in.
        in solidarity,
         michael


Michael A. Lebowitz

Professor Emeritus

Economics Department

Simon Fraser University

Burnaby, B.C., Canada V5A 1S6



Currently based in Venezuela. Can be reached at

Residencias Anauco Suites

Departamento 601

Parque Central, Zona Postal 1010, Oficina 1

Caracas, Venezuela

(58-212) 573-4111

fax: (58-212) 573-7724

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