Medical Internationalism

To the wider world owe a debt both Cuba’s past (e.g. the descendents of Africa lead the independence charge) and future (e.g. the unification of Latin America will engender security and developmental benefits). And since Cuba’s well educated populace is its most valuable resource, it relies on human capital as a principal instrument of foreign exchange.

As such, Cuba’s foreign policy focuses heavily on loaning health and educational personnel to underdeveloped nations. Currently, 42,000 Cubans serve in 103 countries—responding to natural disasters, eradicating literacy, performing opthalmological surgery, and building public health capacity. Cuba also hosts without charge over ten thousand students from 113 different countries in its six year medical schools. These efforts demonstrate writ large the selflessness required for revolutionary socialism and create the favorable diplomatic relationships necessary to counteract the continued enmity from the US. However, some Cubans contend that the external emphasis has taken needed resources away from domestic health care—where it has now become customary to bring gifts to doctors to guarantee proper medical attention.

From the Department of Scorpion Farming

Down on the scorpion farm, Cubans are boosting the yield of the blue variety that fights cancer.

Somehow that is a true statement.

Putting on a Clinic Clinic

Universalizing health care in Cuba has meant shifting the focus from major overcrowded hospitals to smaller decentralized polyclinics. Each neighborhood has a clinic in which residents can just drop in to have their health checked out. This medical system emphasizes preventative care.

Clinics are so readily accessible and close to home that people feel comfortable visiting the clinic regularly. Instead of waiting until an ailment causes a severe crisis, people can nip health problems in the bud by seeking medical attention early on. Even if the expansive network of clinics means more immediate resource allocation, preempting catastrophic conditions is much cheaper in the long run.

Each polyclinic serves an average population of twenty-two thousand people. Doctors become familiar with their neighbor-patients to whom they provide regular check-ups. If they detect more serious symptoms, they refer patients to specialists at larger regional hospitals.

People will stop in to polyclinics at a moments notice. Walking back home from a game of dominoes in the darkness of early night, a middle-aged Cuban man will suddenly come to a halt and tell his friend to wait a moment while he goes in to see if the doctor can check his blood pressure. If the doctor is available, great; if not, the man can revisit the clinic another time since it is only a few blocks from his house.

This method of frequent contact keeps both patient and doctor abreast of the citizen's condition.

The polyclinics endeavor to be ever to deal with drop-in patients. Even political bigwigs can pop in without any notice for a check-up--of the state of the system.