Cuba Steps Up Aid to Haiti
HAVANA TIMES, Jan. 17 — Cuba now has 220 doctors and health staff working in the disaster relief in Port au Prince, Haiti along with ten tons of medicines flown in to meet the most pressing needs.
Numerous young Haitian doctors who studied medicine on scholarships in Santiago de Cuba have joined in the effort, including 37 who arrived from Cuba on Saturday.
Cuba News Agency reports on Sunday that planes carrying specialists in emergencies also bring shipments of medical supplies. On Saturday the equipment for three operating rooms arrived from Cuba to support the efforts of the medical brigade already working at several points in the Haitian capital.
Cuba has an ongoing program of treatment throughout Haiti under an agreement with the host government. Besides the doctors concentrated in Port au Prince for the earthquake relief effort, another 227 provide services throughout the impoverished Caribbean country.
6 weeks have passed. 700,000 homeless, remain overcrowded, and disease breeding (tuberculosis & cholera). Cuba’ public health success in treating AIDS has always been an untold story. The UN is creating another failed experiment in humanitarian aid to overshadow, Palestine financially and socially.
The success that New Orleans has had, post Katrina is due to massive relocation (to Houston and Baton Rouge) and insurance money..THose remaining formed a real future.
Haitians have no insurance and the international community has not made good on the Millenium Challenge pledges.Relocation and decent, housing (not rolls of plastic) is needed. The carribean nations should relocate haitians semi permanently to reduce the urban population by 70%.
And when CNN and Anderson Cooper return to report on the rains and cholera in the next months we as Americans should consider why our good will and generosity has not been able to soothe, heal, protect, lift up and rebuild personal dignity…
I too,like David in Australia, searched the internet to find news coverage of aid from Cuba to Haiti. I live in Canada and have not seen anything regarding Cuban Aid on the American or Canadian News. Usually Canada does carry news regarding Cuba.
I do know however that Cuba does have excellent medical trained professionals who are readily offered for emergency aid in international crisis. When Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans , I heard that Medical assistance from Cuba was was declined by the USA. A shame.
To David , I hope you and your wife take the first opportunity you have to visit Cuba. You will enjoy the culture and the people very much. It is also very safe to travel away from the hotels and into the countryside and cities and villages. I am a Canadian by birth and love to travel to Cuba! (7 times in last 15 years) KC
It’s wonderful that Cuba is helping. Getting food distributed is a problem for the US and other organizations. it would be wonderful if Cuba could assist dropping food by helicoper to speed up the process. This would free up the US to maintain order while food is being distributed. These people are hanging on by a thread and the ability to put aside differences and work as a team is the difference between life and death for thousands of people.
when working on board the Hospital Ship Comfort on their continuing promise trips in 07 & 09, always asked out loud why cuban doctors were not solicited to come along on the ship by the us, strange when we were doing stops for only two weeks in spots, soliciting them and working with them would do more for the people who are impovrished, no politics, just get them help to get back on their feet so they can rebuild their homes free from graft & terrorism from their own neighbours.
Here’s a welcome update on Dave Lindorff’s report, “Cuba is Missing… From US Reports on the International Response to Haiti’s Earthquake,”
A small welcome update:
This morning, I saw the first real reporting on the presence and commendable work of the Cuban doctors in Port-au-Prince, Haiti on CNN TV. Clearly, the on-the-ground, real differences between the priorities of the Cuban’s and the US “security” forces is forcing its way through the media bias.
At 1:45 am, EST, Sunday, 1/17/10 CNN allowed a reporter to praise at
length the Cuban doctors who were providing orderly, efficient, and
quality medical treatment at the La Paz hospital. He contrasted it with
the chaos and woefully inadequate circumstances elsewhere.
Also, some reports are showing up on the web, mostly from Xinhua sources.
Read the article by David Lindorff about how any mention of Cuba’s help was ignored by the mainstream media. How disgraceful, give credit where credit is due.
Not much has changed I have not seen any report in any of our newspapers or television about the aid being provided by Cuba to Haiti.
I just knew that Cuba would be so decided to search it out on the net..
thank you for the email subscription.
My wife and I would love to visit Cuba from Australia one day.
Best wishes,
David