[Marxism] Ignorance about Cuban health, from someone who liked Sicko

[Nick Fredman <srcsra@xxxxxxxxxx>]

For what's it worth I just sent the following to the Sydney Morning Herald
feedback address, and a shorter version to its letters page. Joaquin Bustelo
on the Marxmail list earlier pointed to the Reuters report cited, though it
no longer appears available at the Scientific American address he gave.

In an article on Michael Moore's new documentary Sicko, Helen Barlow claims
that Moore "spoils" his Guantanamo Bay stunt by "venturing on to Communist
Cuba where the Americans receive top-class treatment, which is hardly
available to every Cuban" (Metro, August 3, p. 5).

This unsubstantiated claim is profoundly ignorant. Numerous medical
authorities including the the World Heath Organisation have recognised that
health indicators in Cuba, such as the number of doctors per capita and
infant mortality rates, rival much richer countries and beat the US on some
scores and that Cuba is a world leader in family medicine, preventative
care, bio-technology and the incorporation of traditional knowledge into
health care. 

The Reuters report cited below repeats common but again unsubstantiated
claims about a two-tier system (the only "evidence" there being claims by a
single doctor who has defected - hardly an objective and ethical source
given he fled an aid assignment in Zimbabwe for a lucrative US career). But
more to the point it makes clear that the clinic Moore visited was an
ordinary clinic for ordinary citizens.

"At the Havana clinic where Moore's American patients received free
check-ups in March for respiratory problems and bone fractures suffered at
Ground Zero, Ivonne Torres reads a Buddhist text as she waits for an
appointment. 'The attention is pretty good, but it was a million times
better six years ago, when we always saw the same doctor,' said Torres, who
suffers from tachycardia".

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N15193062.htm

Moore's Cuban excursion spoilt nothing, rather it generated further evidence
that socialised medicine is vastly superior to the free market. Barlow
should do a bit of research before relying on her prejudices or, I suspect,
the congenital hostility of the US media towards Cuba reflected in US
reviews of Sicko. 




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