CubaMinrex. Sitio del Ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores de Cuba

Cuban Ambassador visits pilot Medical Plan based on Cuban model in Kerala

INDIA, December 13th, 2010.- Cuban Ambassador in India, Miguel Angel Ramírez, visited a polyclinic in a village on the outskirts of Trivandrum, the capital of Kerala, serving as head of a pilot program based on the Cuban health model.

This polyclinic facility has a network of doctors serving specific communities supported by nurses and social workers, where the patients are sent with a daily schedule of medical specialties similar to the Cuban system care.

Patients are registered and everyone is provided a clinical history whose data are computerized and prevention and immunization campaigns are carried out. Likewise, high risk population is treated according to the same parameters set out in Cuba.

The results are very encouraging and already the program begins to be extended to the rest of the state with the support of popular councils or panchayats of the various communities.

This initiative came as a result of the visit to Cuba of the Minister of Health of Kerala, Mrs. Teacher at the end of 2008, during which she visited various institutions and received information necessary to implement that model. The Director of the Polyclinic stressed that since the entry into force of the new model all indicators of population health have improved; costs have been reduced as well as referrals to the polyclinic, since most of the cases handled are at the grassroots level by the family physician.

The implementation of the Cuban model has incorporated two innovations in line with local conditions, namely the use of social workers, that after a training, help reduce bureaucratic work load on the field and on collecting data, as well as application of low-cost computing technologies based on cell phones to transmit, compile information, and perform queries by doctors in the field.

Kerala is the Indian state with better health indicators in the country, with 11 infant mortality per 1000 live births, and 100% of institutional deliveries indicators similar to many developed countries.

(Cubaminrex - Embacuba India)