Posted on 07/15/2006 4:13:34 PM PDT by Bangupjob
Latin America: As rumors fly about Fidel Castro's demise, truths about his regime's failures slip out. His vaunted overseas "free" medical program for the poor, once a propaganda coup, is falling apart.
In Bolivia, at least 30 Cuban doctors out of 719 defected to freedom, according to Bolivian media.
In Venezuela, 4,000 Cuban doctors out of 15,000 also fled the country, Union Radio reported.
These Cuban doctors were at the forefront of Castro's last-ditch effort to rejuvenate his communist dictatorship. Castro cooked up the Venezuelan "Barrio Adentro" plan just three years ago with Hugo Chavez to obscure his record of dispatching brutal military mercenaries and guerrillas abroad to seize power and influence. ...
For Castro, his perfect plan was remarkably cheap. Although details are hardly transparent, it's known that the scheme cost Cuba only a few million dollars. Cuban medics got $100 a month and another $100 for family members back home to ensure their return.
But Cuba's doctors didn't play according to the script. Over in Caracas, some who had passports simply walked out, got on planes and sought to practice medicine in the free world. Others, whose passports were under the lock and key of their Communist Party minders, sought asylum at U.S. embassies, and got it.
Other doctors made contact with networks of Caracas' 40,000 Cuban exiles who'd fled Castro in earlier waves and quietly made their way to asylum and safety elsewhere.
It's no surprise why they did it. ...
(Excerpt) Read more at investors.com ...
The Cuban paradise myth falls apart... again.
I am shocked!! How can this be possible I mean isn't Cuba a paradise, where everything is happy bubbles and sunshine?
The Real Cuba -- after 47 years of oppression:
http://www.therealcuba.com/
I hope KagaSStro has finally hit pay-dirt. We'll know soon enough come July 26th.
Was it Jimmah Carter or Cindy Sheehag's group that claimed that Fidel's Cuba had the best healthcare in the world....(ROFL!)
bookmarked
thanks
Happy upcoming 80th birthday, Futil.
Sheehan should have checked into Cubpa long ago to cure her terminal stupidity and rat-faced mug.
Oh, I know lots of doctors who want to work for $200 a month.
I've heard they were paying them 10 dollars a month.
.
And still it's...
ELIAN's -Cold Dead Eyes- in Cuba
http://www.Freerepublic.com/forum/a395a99a7020f.htm
.
I don't think I'd want these guys practicing on me. From what my nurse friends from Florida say, they get a lot of botched surgery clients from Cuba. They may have to get an upgrade in their medical education.
>>>>Emptying Cuba's hospitals and clinics, Castro sent these doctors to the slums of Caracas and elsewhere, leaving Cubans themselves without doctors. Havana's public hospitals, outside the tourist zones, are bereft of any medical care as doctors disappear abroad.
The USA does this too. This is how we did our rural medical tour.
When medical students are close to graduation, they get a seminar on how they can do the right thing and volunteer to go the the rural medical tour which sends doctors into to needed areas. As a reward, the student loans get deferred.
The unfortunate thing is, this tour did defer our loans; but the interest on the loans didn't stop. Real nice catch 22. I don't think we will ever be able to pay back those loans.
All the areas the doctors were sent to were county and state run facilities. They don't pay much at all. So that keeps the overhead for the facilities low.
These state and county run facitilities feed off of DHS, state and federal medicare/aid match reimbursements. The more uninsured patients, the more they can bill for.
Lower overhead to run county and state medical factilities, the feeding frenzie for reimbursement billing, and the malpractice breaks given to these facilities over private practice keeps the private practices at a disadvantage.
>>>Defecting doctors say they are essentially there for a political purpose rather than to practice medicine. Their "free" medical care amounts to industrial "dumping," putting real doctors out of business in places such as Venezuela, Bolivia and Central America, all of which have seen medical-personnel strikes over these "free" and often less-trained Cuban doctors.<<<<
Sheesh! Same result in the USA too!
Just wonder if any of these “Doctors” could pass any civilized worlds equivalent of a “Boards” exam?
Can they afford to pay to take these board exams may be a better question.
Not the question … even if I paid for the … could they pass?
Great eye opener. Thanks for posting this. I know many relatives who will have to get a clue after showing them this.
Well, are you referring to the doctors in my post or the Cuban doctors from the article?
I’m referring to the doctors (notice small d) from Cuba. I have had occasion to speak with the “dry foot wet foot” versions of these “doctors” and find them to be less qualified to be doctors than EMTs. They have great intentions but lack the necessary training or skills to be qualified medical professionals. There have been many who where given a chance (a free chance) to board certify, not one has been able to do so!
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