Correspondent of the Day: Slave-like Labor: Just Another Factoid
Slave-like Labor: Just Another Factoid
Editor, Times-Dispatch: In his letter, "Cuba's BioTech Is World Renowned," Correspondent of the Day Tim Loughran takes Commentary columnist Robin Beres to task for "irrelevant historical factoids and cob-webbed Cold War rhetoric" regarding Cuba. His charge: "Cuba and the US are tied for 37th place among all nations for life expectancy, the universal cross border measure of health care quality around the world."
Yes, the communists do a good job of keeping their slaves alive so they can labor for the communist state and its oligarchy. Never mind that they are having problems getting toilet paper.
Having worked the mine of statistics, Loughran's rebuke continues with the statement that we spend "a whopping $6,719 per person for health care while Cuba spends just $362 per person." How long does Loughran think the average Cuban has to work to earn that $362? Another inconvenient factoid.
If the statement about Cuban contributions to bio-technology and low-cost medicines is accurate, that is indeed a good thing, and we should try to do better. In our own messy, undisciplined, democratic way, a lot of good people are working on improving our own health care system, without sacrificing our hard-won freedoms.
Of course, slave labor can accomplish things that seem wonderful if one doesn't muddy his view with "irrelevant historical factoids." Look at the Great Wall of China. I'll take freedom even if it costs $6,719.
Beres' column had its priorities right.
Robert Ohanesian.
Lancaster.
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“The Human Rights Watch alleges that the (Cuban) government represses nearly all forms of political dissent. Cubans are systematically denied basic rights to -
Free expression
Association
Assembly
Privacy
Movement
and
Due Process of law.
That is today.
Anybody who is even remotely interested in the subject would never rely on 40 year old remembrances of exiles living in Miami.
Some of us rely on days old information from exiled friends living in New Jersey.
We “know” all about the health care system in Cuba.
There is a very high ratio of doctors to patients. Except that those doctors earn $15 dollars a month and deal on a daily basis with poor facilities, outdated equipment, and little or none of the drugs they are becoming noted for developing. Even aspirin is by perscription only.
Fudging their health statistics is what makes them look like their numbers match those in the US.
The Cuban Ministry of Health sets statistical targets that are actually production quotas. The doctor makes the final decision on treatment. the patient has no choice whatsoever.
Cuba does indeed export a lot of doctors. They stand in line to go. They are mostly in Venezuela where their services are a quid pro quo for subsidized oil. If they had their way they would all be here in the US.
Che was a doctor, so was Mengele.
The Cubans are the most industrious, intelligent people I have ever met.The
fact that their own government keeps them prisioners on the island has to say more than all the stats in the world.
So I will just write what I meant to write when I started this commentary.
Talk to a Cuban.
“If the statement about Cuban contributions to bio-technology and low-cost medicines is accurate”
.....
This is the BIG IF….
why is it that we have to ask “IF”...
don’t we know the answer?
Why don’t we know if Cuba has contributed to bio-tech and low cost medicine?
Most of the discussions of Cuba are based on third hand information and 40 year old rememberances from Cuban exiles living in Miami. The problem is that we have information that tells us all the horrible things that have happened in Cuba, and I believe there are some horrible things, but on the other hand maybe there has been “some” postive changes? I think we just don’t want to hear about them and caste any postive news as “lies”. This is America’s stance on most things foreign. We distrust anything that goes against our upbringing. Anyone who questions our own traditions is seen as un-American, because we ALL know America is the best at EVERYTHING. We are really prisoners of our own
“propaganda” aren’t we? This letter seems to confirm how most people approach the idea of Cuba having a good health care system….“if” they have one….you see we don’t really know, we are programed to reject it, we are programed to believe it’s not possible, maybe it’s time we deprogram ourselves and examine the truth , warts and beauty with equal treatment.
One thing is for sure Cuba has one of the highest doctor -patient ratios in the world. They would be a good place to start the discussion of Cuban health care and society. Initially that sounds like a postive for Cuba, maybe if you dig a little deeper, you might see that Cuba exports alot of doctors to other S. American countries…sort of “human” capital. I imagine Cuba is paid in kind from these countries with export/import preferences. So are those Cuban doctors practicing in foreign countries included in Cuba’s doctor/patient ratio? That’s a question that I would like answered?
But even then one has to realize…Che Guevara was a doctor..this seems to be such a contradiction…probably one of many you can find if you really dig into the history of Cuba and S.American
politics. So if you are going to talk about Cuba and S.America can we allow that they might be contradictions that don’t make sense to us Norteamericanos.
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