Is Healthcare in Cuba Free?
By Kamil Kenders
HAVANA TIMES – “Healthcare in Cuba is free, but it costs.” It’s a slogan coined by Public Health that I’ve heard since I was a child, and it refers to the fact that every examination carried out by the State costs a lot of money. It’s true, as is the significant collaboration of other countries with ours in terms of health. And by this, I mean equipment and hospital instruments. However, for some years now, the situation in our medical institutions has been worsening.
I’ve always been a person with health problems, especially when I was young, and I fondly remember all the healthcare personnel who attended to me during those years. Kind, polite, and with a great sense of humanitarianism, something that many of these white-coated workers lack nowadays, at least on this island where, unfortunately, there are fewer and fewer of them.
The story of this post begins just over 15 days ago when a friend’s grandmother, 85 years old, fell in the street and fractured her hip. She was immediately taken to the nearest hospital, Carlos J. Finlay Hospital (a military hospital) located in the municipality of Marianao.
When the X-ray was performed (an examination that was useless to diagnose due to its poor quality, but the clinical examination could), the orthopedic doctor on duty explained that it was impossible to admit her to that institution simply because it was a military hospital, and she was neither military personnel nor a relative of one. With that said, she was referred to the hospital to which she belonged: The Joaquin Albarran Clinical Surgical Hospital. The usual or normal procedure would have been to transport her by ambulance, but no, this transfer is now the responsibility of the patient and their family.
So, after hiring a taxi, it was possible to transport her. Once in the second hospital, another X-ray was performed, which was able to show the poor woman’s hip fracture, who could only complain of her pain without being administered any painkillers. In that hospital not only was there no bed available for her to be admitted, but the orthopedic doctor explained that the operating rooms had been closed for “repairs” for almost a year.
After the family’s despair, not knowing what to do with an elderly person in such conditions, a member of the family present remembered a friend, a doctor from another hospital, whom they called without hesitation, praying that she could alleviate the situation a little. And she did.
The lady is now admitted to the Fructuoso Rodríguez Orthopedic Hospital, awaiting her operation, which has not yet been performed due to problems with electricity, water scarcity, and a lack of medical supplies. And that’s when I remembered that phrase again, “healthcare in Cuba is free, but it costs”; and yes, it costs pain, tears, sacrifice, and money. Nevertheless, the fact of being able to be hospitalized and awaiting a solution to her ailment is infinitely appreciated.
Read more from the diary of Kamil Kenders here on Havana Times.
Stephen I am.also involved in the Health care system in Canada as a volunteer with disabled and or homeless
The Ford gov in my opinion has put private sector profits by nursing homes and temporary worker agencies
Medical supplies are available in Canada but the lack of trained health care workers in Quebec, Ontario and Alberta is the result of government officials
In Cuba there is no medical supplies A non profit group has donated supplies through Mexico and Canada that has been partly funded by people from Florida
CANADA is over 100 000 assistance living units short and could operated much cheaper ( better) in cuba from Dec to March but only if the gov of Cuba pushed for large amounts of change in the economy
We both know those changes will not happen so Canada must train more people in health care and limit foreign( students).and foreign workers from April to Nov except as certified health care workers.
Kamil Kenders insightful column could easily be describing the present Canadian health care system. The only difference is that Canadians through their taxes must pay an exorbitant amount of provincial health care dollars and receive little care in return.
Kamil writes: “However, for some years now, the situation in our medical institutions has been worsening.” That unfortunately is the current situation in Cuba. Ditto the exact situation taking place in all provincial jurisdictions in Canada.
Let’s use the example of the unfortunate 85 year old Cuban lady who fell and fractured her hip. She had to undergo excruciating pain and suffering within the Cuban health care system. Now, take a Canadian 85 year old person who falls and fractures their hip.
The Canadian patient is rushed to Emergency (ER). Well, depends where one lives the ER department can be closed because there are not enough physicians to keep it open. If the patient is “lucky” the ER is fully functional and now the prolonged waiting begins before a doctor is available to see the patient. Excruciating pain has no time limits.
Meanwhile, like the Cuban 85 year old fractured hip patient, the immense suffering continues. The Canadian patient may have to wait in a hallway for hours and hours even days before a hospital room opens up for admittance.
The Cuban “ . . . lady is now admitted to the Fructuoso Rodríguez Orthopedic Hospital, awaiting her operation, which has not yet been performed due to problems with electricity, water scarcity, and a lack of medical supplies. “ The Canadian lady in a Canadian hospital, awaiting her operation must continue to wait due to the prolonged problem of lack of doctors. Extremely sad in both cases.
In conclusion, Kamil Kenders ends her column by reminiscing: “ And that’s when I remembered that phrase again, “healthcare in Cuba is free, but it costs””. That is stinging for Cubans.
So true in Canada when expedient health care was free and the envy of the world; however, now in Canada it costs and those with the financial means need not use the “free” health care system, but monetarily pay for private health care blessed by provincial governments. Again, extremely sad in both cases.