So I just watched Sicko, how much is true?

[Kidlicious]

Originally posted by DinoDoc

Complaints have arisen that foreign "health tourists" paying with dollars and senior Communist party officials receive a higher quality of care than Cuban citizens. Former leading Cuban neurosurgeon and dissident Dr Hilda Molina asserts that the central revolutionary objective of free, quality medical care for all has been eroded by Cuba's need for foreign currency. Molina says that following the economic collapse known in Cuba as the Special Period, the Cuban Government established mechanisms designed to turn the medical system into a profit-making enterprise. This creates an enormous disparity in the quality of healthcare services between foreigners and Cubans leading to a form of tourist apartheid. In 1998 she said that foreign patients were routinely inadequately or falsely informed about their medical conditions to increase their medical bills or to hide the fact that Cuba often advertises medical services it is unable to provide.[60] Others makes similar claims, also stating that senior Communist party and military officials can access this higher quality system free of charge.[7][8] In 2005, an account written by Cuban exile and critic of Fidel Castro, Carlos Wotzkow, appeared showing apparent unsanitary and unsafe conditions in the "ClÃnico Quirúrgico" of Havana;the article claims that health care for Cubans occurs in worse conditions in the rest of the country.[61]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Health_...uba#Criticisms

From some source

The report stated that life expectancy and infant mortality rates are pretty much the same as the USA's. Its doctor-to-patient ratios stand comparison to any country in Western Europe. Its annual total health spend per head, however, comes in at $251; just over a tenth of the UK's. The report concluded that the population's admirable health is one of the key reasons why Castro is still in power.[52] In fact, a recent poll carried out by the Gallup Organization's Costa Rican affiliate — ConsultorÃa Interdisciplinaria en Desarrollo (CID) — found that about three-quarters of Cuban citizens are positive about their country's education and healthcare systems.[53]

I wonder how that last part compares to the US.

[_BuRjaCi_]

MM does have his faux pases, like where did he get the list that puts Slovenia behind the US in healthcare? I'm from Slovenia and can tell you from my own experience and several international studies that our health care is far superior to that of the US. The Cuba stuff was lame but I thought he was quite belivable on Canada. Overall, entertaining propaganda with more than a grain of truth, is the best designation for his work.

[Nikolai]

Is this that movie I read about, where he compares the US health care with European ones? I read he planned to portrait the Norwegian one, but decided the Americans would believe it was fairy tales and chose GB instead.

And still we complain over here.

[alva]

* gasps *

Great-Brittain has a healthcare system too now...!!!!

[Zkribbler]

Originally posted by Flubber


Really?? The thousands and thousands of Europeans and Canadians that pass through Cuba would tend to disagree

If you mean a couple of thousand per year, you'd be right. But Havana Airport is a postage stamp. It can't handle big planes or lots of people.

[Barnabas]

No way Cuba receives only a couple of thousands of tourists....

from wiki

"Tourism in Cuba attracts over 2 million visitors a year, and is one of the main sources of revenue for the island.[1] With its favorable climate, beaches, colonial architecture and distinct cultural history, Cuba has long been an attractive destination for travelers from around the globe. In the first part of the 20th century Cuba benefited from its close proximity to the United States to gain a reputation as a hedonistic escape for U.S. tourists. As relations between Cuba and the United States deteriorated rapidly after the Cuban Revolution of 1959, the island became cut off from its traditional market by an embargo and travel ban imposed on U.S. citizens visiting Cuba, and the industry declined to record low levels within two years.

Following the collapse of Cuba's chief trading partner the Soviet Union, and the resulting economic crisis known as the Special Period, Cuba embarked on a major program to bolster its tourist industry in order to bring in much needed finance to the island. Schemes to encourage visitors meant that by the late 1990s, tourism surpassed Cuba's traditional export industry, sugar, as the nation's leading source of revenue. Visitors come primarily from Canada and Europe and tourist areas are highly concentrated around Varadero Beach, Cayo Coco, the beach areas north of Holguin, and Havana. The impact on Cuba's socialist society and economy has been significant, leading to complaints that the state has fostered a form of divisive wealth apartheid on the island."

[Barnabas]

I would have to say that the tourism apartheid is more serious in other capitalist caribbean countries than Cuba, in Cuba you can rent a car and travel thru the island, in other countries, you can only visit the hotel and beaches, and if you want to visit a city, you have to be escorted by armed people

[Zkribbler]

Tourism in Cuba attracts over 2 million visitors a year

It seems I overspoke. The nation of Cuba gets 1/3 the amount of tourists as does the Eiffel Tower.

I'm surprised it's that many with their crumbling buildings and malfunctioning infrastructure.

[Impaler[WrG]]

Which I'm sure you can attest to first hand

[Agathon]

Originally posted by _BuRjaCi_
MM does have his faux pases, like where did he get the list that puts Slovenia behind the US in healthcare? I'm from Slovenia and can tell you from my own experience and several international studies that our health care is far superior to that of the US.

You win the thread Dude.

Best post of the week.

[Zkribbler]

Originally posted by Impaler[WrG]
Which I'm sure you can attest to first hand

Not 'zackly first hand. A friend of mine brought back pictures and told me of his trip there.

[Kontiki]

Originally posted by Zkribbler


Not 'zackly first hand. A friend of mine brought back pictures and told me of his trip there.

Perhaps your friend was visiting the wrong places. Havana doesn't get that many tourists, but the beach resort areas are pretty much indistinguishable from, say, Cancun.

[Arrian]

So what you're saying is that they have a thin strip of nice hotels with a massive slum behind them?

-Arrian

[Kontiki]

No, they have a few thin strips of hotels well away from the slums.

My point being that Cuba doesn't look much different from many cheap Caribbean sun destinations like Cancun or the Domincan Republic. And if 3 million tourists is something to scoff at, then I guess Cancun's 4 million must be pretty sad too.

Edit: And for further comparison, apparently Jamaica only got 2.6 million tourists in 2005.

[Patroklos]

Cancun is a city, Cuba is a country.