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 Posted: Wed Nov 21, 2007 6:22 am Post subject: NY Times' Grudging Coverage of Cuba's Operation Miracle |
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Hash: SHA1
NY Times' Grudging Coverage of Cuba's Operation Miracle
Via NY Transfer News Collective * All the News that Doesn't Fit
[Note the dateline is Novembr 16. It took the Times 4 days to get this
into print. And then with a back-handed headline. - NY Transfer]
The New York Times - Nov 20 2007
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/20/world/americas/20havana.html
A Health Systems ~Miracles Come With Hidden Costs
By JAMES C. McKINLEY Jr.
HAVANA, Nov. 16 " A shiny new tour bus pulled up to the top eye
hospital in Cuba on a sunny day this month and disgorged 47
working-class people from El Salvador, many of whom could barely see
because they had thick cataracts in their eyes.
Among them were Francisca Antonia Guevara, 74, a homemaker from Ciudad
Delgado whose world was a blur. She said she had visited an eye doctor
in her home country but could not pay the $200 needed for artificial
lens implants, much less pay for the surgery.
As someone of few resources, I couldnt afford it, she said. With
the bad economic situation we have there, how are we going to afford
this?
Cubas economy is not exactly booming either, yet within two hours Ms.
Guevaras cataracts were excised and the lenses implanted, with the
Cuban government paying for everything " including air transportation,
housing, food and even the follow-up care.
The government has dubbed the program Operation Miracle, and for the
hundreds of thousands of people from Venezuela, Central America and the
Caribbean who have benefited from it since it was started in July 2004,
it is aptly named.
Yet the program is no simple humanitarian effort, and it has not come
without a cost. The campaign against vision loss serves as a poignant
advertisement for the benefits of Cuban socialism, as well as an
ingenious way to export one of the few things the Cuban state-run
economy produces in abundance " doctors.
Cuban doctors abroad receive much better pay than in Cuba, along with
other benefits from the state, like the right to buy a car and get a
relatively luxurious house when they return. As a result, many of the
finest physicians have taken posts abroad.
The doctors and nurses left in Cuba are stretched thin and overworked,
resulting in a decline in the quality of care for Cubans, some doctors
and patients said.
The Cuban authorities say they have treated more than 750,000 people
for eye conditions like cataracts and glaucoma since the program
started.
At the same time, Cuban doctors have set up 37 small eye hospitals in
Latin America, the Caribbean and Mali. Twenty-five of the centers are
in Venezuela and Bolivia, whose leaders have close ties to the Castros.
The hospitals are staffed with more than 70 top-notch eye surgeons from
Cuba and hundreds of other nurses and ophthalmologists.
Dr. Sergio M. Vidal Casali, 84, has worked at the Ramn Pando Ferrer
Cuban Institute of Ophthalmology for more than 50 years, specializing
in diseases of the retina. He said the heavy flow of foreign patients
through the hospital, combined with the exodus of several physicians to
other countries, had hurt his department. I dont like it, really, he
said. Its wonderful for the people, but not for us. It disturbs our
work.
Dr. Reynaldo Rios Casas, the director of the institute, said the first
days of the program were hectic. Eye surgeons worked in three shifts,
keeping the hospitals operating rooms going all day and all night. It
was not uncommon for a single surgeon to perform 40 operations in a
shift.
It was really heroic, he said. We were operating day, afternoon and
night.
Since then, Dr. Rios says his hospital has been training new eye
doctors at an astounding rate of 2,100 this year, half of them
surgeons. The hospitals budget has been increased tenfold and its
equipment upgraded. It now has 34 operating theaters with
state-of-the-art equipment, including two outfitted for advanced laser
surgery techniques.
One advantage of the program is that it has given young surgeons a
steady flow of patients on whom to hone their skills. Just this year,
they have performed 394 cornea transplants at the hospital, he noted.
Our specialists have an incredible amount of experience, he said.
What specialist in the world can do dozens of cornea transplants a
year?
In recent years, the program has allowed Cuba to use its doctors as
barter for subsidized Venezuelan oil and to forge closer relations with
other countries in the region, including those, like El Salvador, that
have not been historically close to the Communist regime here.
Of course, the people who have their sight restored could not care less
about the political and economic repercussions of the program. For
them, the offer of free surgery was a dream come true.
Mrs. Guevara, whose husband is a retired construction worker from San
Salvador, said she had given up hope of seeing again. She heard about
the Cuban project on a Mayan radio station. I never imagined anyone
would help me the way they have helped me, she said as she waited for
surgery. I thought I was going to end up blind.
Near her in the waiting room was Reina Lpez, 58, of San Vicente, El
Salvador, who has not been able to see for 13 years because of
cataracts. Her daughter, Adilia Reyes, 33, said she had cared for her
mother since she lost her sight. The family, including four children,
survives on her fathers salary of $3 a day, plus whatever fruit can be
sold at a market on Saturdays.
For the poor, this is a tremendous benefit, she said, as she guided
her mother to a presurgery test. If it works, well be so grateful.
Downstairs in the cafeteria, Manuel Agustn Isasi, 33, a professional
fencing coach from Islas Margaritas in Venezuela, was eating a lunch of
pork, rice and beans, able for the first time in years to see his food
with both eyes. Three years ago, he had been whitewashing his home when
he accidentally burned both corneas with a bucket of quicklime. The
accident ended his fencing career.
He had been one of the first to receive a cornea transplant in his left
eye when the program started, he said. Then, in early November, doctors
in Havana replaced the cornea in his right eye. He was unabashed in his
praise for the Cuban government and for President Hugo Ch!vez of
Venezuela.
I would have remained completely blind, he said, fixing a reporter
with a swordsmans gaze. Vision is half of ones life.
Copyright 2007 The New York Times Company
*
=================================================================
NY Transfer News Collective * A Service of Blythe Systems
Since 1985 - Information for the Rest of Us
Our main website: http://www.blythe.org
List Archives: http://blythe-systems.com/pipermail/nytr/
Subscribe: http://blythe-systems.com/mailman/listinfo/nytr
=================================================================
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the programmer
Guest
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| Posted: Thu Jan 17, 2008 2:08 am Post subject: Re: NY Times' Grudging Coverage of Cuba's Operation Miracle |
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| Quote: | GUEST wrote:
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
Hash: SHA1
NY Times' Grudging Coverage of Cuba's Operation Miracle
Via NY Transfer News Collective * All the News that Doesn't Fit
[Note the dateline is Novembr 16. It took the Times 4 days to get
this
into print. And then with a back-handed headline. - NY Transfer]
The New York Times - Nov 20 2007
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/20/world/americas/20havana.html
A Health Systems ~Miracles Come With Hidden Costs
By JAMES C. McKINLEY Jr.
HAVANA, Nov. 16 " A shiny new tour bus pulled up to the top
eye
hospital in Cuba on a sunny day this month and disgorged 47
working-class people from El Salvador, many of whom could barely
see
because they had thick cataracts in their eyes.
Among them were Francisca Antonia Guevara, 74, a homemaker from
Ciudad
Delgado whose world was a blur. She said she had visited an eye
doctor
in her home country but could not pay the $200 needed for
artificial
lens implants, much less pay for the surgery.
As someone of few resources, I couldnt afford it, she said. With
the bad economic situation we have there, how are we going to
afford
this?
Cubas economy is not exactly booming either, yet within two hours
Ms.
Guevaras cataracts were excised and the lenses implanted, with the
Cuban government paying for everything " including air
transportation,
housing, food and even the follow-up care.
The government has dubbed the program Operation Miracle, and for
the
hundreds of thousands of people from Venezuela, Central America and
the
Caribbean who have benefited from it since it was started in July
2004,
it is aptly named.
Yet the program is no simple humanitarian effort, and it has not
come
without a cost. The campaign against vision loss serves as a
poignant
advertisement for the benefits of Cuban socialism, as well as an
ingenious way to export one of the few things the Cuban state-run
economy produces in abundance " doctors.
Cuban doctors abroad receive much better pay than in Cuba, along
with
other benefits from the state, like the right to buy a car and get
a
relatively luxurious house when they return. As a result, many of
the
finest physicians have taken posts abroad.
The doctors and nurses left in Cuba are stretched thin and
overworked,
resulting in a decline in the quality of care for Cubans, some
doctors
and patients said.
The Cuban authorities say they have treated more than 750,000
people
for eye conditions like cataracts and glaucoma since the program
started.
At the same time, Cuban doctors have set up 37 small eye hospitals
in
Latin America, the Caribbean and Mali. Twenty-five of the centers
are
in Venezuela and Bolivia, whose leaders have close ties to the
Castros.
The hospitals are staffed with more than 70 top-notch eye surgeons
from
Cuba and hundreds of other nurses and ophthalmologists.
Dr. Sergio M. Vidal Casali, 84, has worked at the Ramn Pando Ferrer
Cuban Institute of Ophthalmology for more than 50 years,
specializing
in diseases of the retina. He said the heavy flow of foreign
patients
through the hospital, combined with the exodus of several
physicians to
other countries, had hurt his department. I dont like it, really,
he
said. Its wonderful for the people, but not for us. It disturbs our
work.
Dr. Reynaldo Rios Casas, the director of the institute, said the
first
days of the program were hectic. Eye surgeons worked in three
shifts,
keeping the hospitals operating rooms going all day and all night.
It
was not uncommon for a single surgeon to perform 40 operations in a
shift.
It was really heroic, he said. We were operating day, afternoon and
night.
Since then, Dr. Rios says his hospital has been training new eye
doctors at an astounding rate of 2,100 this year, half of them
surgeons. The hospitals budget has been increased tenfold and its
equipment upgraded. It now has 34 operating theaters with
state-of-the-art equipment, including two outfitted for advanced
laser
surgery techniques.
One advantage of the program is that it has given young surgeons a
steady flow of patients on whom to hone their skills. Just this
year,
they have performed 394 cornea transplants at the hospital, he
noted.
Our specialists have an incredible amount of experience, he said.
What specialist in the world can do dozens of cornea transplants a
year?
In recent years, the program has allowed Cuba to use its doctors as
barter for subsidized Venezuelan oil and to forge closer relations
with
other countries in the region, including those, like El Salvador,
that
have not been historically close to the Communist regime here.
Of course, the people who have their sight restored could not care
less
about the political and economic repercussions of the program. For
them, the offer of free surgery was a dream come true.
Mrs. Guevara, whose husband is a retired construction worker from
San
Salvador, said she had given up hope of seeing again. She heard
about
the Cuban project on a Mayan radio station. I never imagined anyone
would help me the way they have helped me, she said as she waited
for
surgery. I thought I was going to end up blind.
Near her in the waiting room was Reina Lpez, 58, of San Vicente, El
Salvador, who has not been able to see for 13 years because of
cataracts. Her daughter, Adilia Reyes, 33, said she had cared for
her
mother since she lost her sight. The family, including four
children,
survives on her fathers salary of $3 a day, plus whatever fruit can
be
sold at a market on Saturdays.
For the poor, this is a tremendous benefit, she said, as she guided
her mother to a presurgery test. If it works, well be so grateful.
Downstairs in the cafeteria, Manuel Agustn Isasi, 33, a
professional
fencing coach from Islas Margaritas in Venezuela, was eating a
lunch of
pork, rice and beans, able for the first time in years to see his
food
with both eyes. Three years ago, he had been whitewashing his home
when
he accidentally burned both corneas with a bucket of quicklime. The
accident ended his fencing career.
He had been one of the first to receive a cornea transplant in his
left
eye when the program started, he said. Then, in early November,
doctors
in Havana replaced the cornea in his right eye. He was unabashed in
his
praise for the Cuban government and for President Hugo Ch!vez of
Venezuela.
I would have remained completely blind, he said, fixing a reporter
with a swordsmans gaze. Vision is half of ones life.
Copyright 2007 The New York Times Company
*
=================================================================
NY Transfer News Collective * A Service of Blythe Systems
Since 1985 - Information for the Rest of Us
Our main website: http://www.blythe.org
List Archives: http://blythe-systems.com/pipermail/nytr/
Subscribe: http://blythe-systems.com/mailman/listinfo/nytr
=================================================================
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Execuse me, Can any one please
tell me if this treatment is possible for a blind UAE (United Arabian
Emarate) citizen? I need more information if you don't mind,
Thank you so much,
The Programmer |
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