Healthcare in Cuba is an Exception in the World 

Taken from Radio Habana Cuba
April, 2006

Doctor Daniel Purcallas, sub-regional consultant of the Pan-American and World Health organizations PHO/WHO, told the press in Havana that globalization is causing great imbalances in healthcare as a result of a lack of human resources.

The United Nations expert stated that the most developed countries absorb the medical work force and that migration is eroding the levels of treatment and health conditions in the poorest countries.

Purcallas pointed to the movement of doctors and nurses from the area of the Caribbean towards North America and from the African continent to Europe.

The regional consultant of the PHO/WHO spoke highly of the work done by Cuba. He said Cuba is an exception in the continent and the world, for it had been prioritizing the training of human resources as a crucial factor in healthcare since 1960.

This has made it possible for Cuba, since it began its international medical collaboration in 1963, to have sent more than a hundred thousand medical personnel to serve abroad, in a demonstration of solidarity and selflessness.

The UN official commented that currently thousands of Cuban health workers are treating people in Pakistan, Venezuela, Guatemala, Honduras, Haiti and many other countries, The specialist's statements coincided with the celebration of World Health Day, observed every year on April 7. The occasion was dedicated this year to health workers, in recognition of their contribution to raising people's well-being.

In Cuba, doctors, nurses, technicians, pharmacists and other paramedic personal received well deserved recognition for their daily work in the generous and humane task of reducing pain and saving lives both on the island and in so many places around the world.

"Let's collaborate on Health" is the motto of World Health Day for 2006, with a focus on the growing world crisis of human resources, which stands in the way of medical services in most of the planet. Instituted in 1950 on the proposal of the first World Health Assembly, the date this year seeks to raise awareness on the issue, with a view to boosting prevention and health promotion programs.

Courtesy of Granma Daily