Cuba in the battle for Health
8 May 2020 “HARAVGI” newspaper
Article by Sotiris Kaniklis – Member of the Central Control Committee of the C.C. of AKEL
On issues of health, Cuba has been doing remarkable things and in fact for decades. Even before cases of the coronavirus were announced in March in the country itself, Cuba’s mark was observed on every effort to confront the pandemic. Who can forget the permission given to the British cruise ship to dock in Havana enabling its 1,000 passengers, including 5 COVID-19 cases, to return to their country? This cruise ship was unwanted in ports in various countries, including the United States.
According to Pablo Vinanco, a journalist and political analyst, Cuba had managed until 27th April to keep the coronavirus attack to 1,370 cases, with 54 deaths. And this is happening not only because Cuba has the highest proportion of doctors among the world’s population, but also because it has a free, universal health system, its own National Health Scheme that works for people’s health and not for profit; because health in Cuba is a social right.
Now, for the first time, Cuban doctors are being welcomed with open arms and European countries, such as Italy and Andorra, and even Latin American countries friendly towards the United States, who had expelled Cuban doctors just a few months ago!
And all this at a time when the inhumane US blockade against Cuba is intensifying day by day, but not only that since the United States is exerting pressure on other countries not to accept Cuban doctors.
Cuba has health as a priority because it believes it is a social right, a human right, while the United States believes that the market should determine who has and who does not have access to health and medical care.
