lunes, diciembre 26, 2016

El negocio de la sangre que el régimen oculta a los cubano.


El negocio de la sangre que el régimen oculta a los cubanos
BY: Angelo Florez de Andrade - DIC 26, 2016, 8:01 AM 
Los seres humanos podem...

Hace algún tiempo publicamos en este Blog un artículo sobre este tema o relacionado con el mismo:

La extracción de sangre a condenados a muerte en Cuba, una práctica aterradora. http://medicinacubana.blogspot.com/2016/07/la-extraccion-de-sangre-condenados.html

sábado, diciembre 24, 2016

Campaña de ayuda urgente para una médico cubana en condición critica y abandono en Argentina

La Dra. Yanet Gil Gilling, natural de Holguín Cuba, quien se desempeñaba como médico en Bolivia, dejo la misión en ese país y se trasladó a la Argentina. Su estado de salud es muy crítico y está muriendo lentamente en completo abandono. Incluimos aquí toda la información sobre la situación de esta colega en una país tan distante y sin ningún familiar cerca. Pero lo más importante es que los cubanos radicados en Argentina, sobre todo aquellos vinculados con la profesión médica puedan ayudar de alguna forma a nuestra colega. Esto es lo que queremos cuando  publiquemos y enviemos esta información:
Una doctora cubana está abandonada a su suerte en estado crítico en Argentina
La imagen de la Dra. Cubana Yanet Gil Gilling ha llamado la atención de las redes sociales después que sus amigos hicieran público su deplorable estado de salud en Argentina.
Dra Yanet Gil en condicion de hospitalizacion
Yanet Gil desertó de una misión médica cubana en Bolivia, se trasladó hasta Argentina, y desde ese momento su estado de salud se fue deteriorando hasta la actualidad. Padece diabetes tipo II e hipertensión arterial de modo crónico y el informe médico más reciente destaca lo siguiente: Internación prolongada con sepsis urinaria recurrentes, Polineuromiopatia y múltiples escaras como consecuencia de la prolongada hospitalización en cuidados intensivos. Trastorno deglutorio o disfagia (alimentación parenteral). Antecedentes de hipertensión arterial y diabetes tipo II.
La doctora  cubana que tantas vidas ha salvado en el mundo no tiene quien la alimente ni la cuide, está abandonada a su suerte en un centro médico que no dispone de condiciones para su estado de salud. Concretamente se encuentra en el Hospital Municipal de Morón y está ubicado en: Monte 848, Morón, Buenos Aires, donde ha sido víctima de varias negligencias médicas.
Para sobrevivir, la paciente necesita una enfermera que la cuide las 24 horas del día porque no puede alimentarse sola y tiene escaras profundas que precisan curas frecuentes, según consignan fuentes médicas.
Para la doctora cubana, urge un traslado inmediato y la posterior repatriación a Cuba, sin que importe que haya abandonado misión médica alguna. En la isla se encuentra su madre, una anciana de 70 años de gran prestigio en el sistema de salud cubano y sus dos hijos de 17 y 19 años respectivamente.
Yanet Gil se graduó de Medicina en la Facultad de Ciencias Médicas de la provincia de Holguín, Cuba. Un grupo de amigos de la doctora han promovido esta información en aras de pedir ayuda humanitaria precisando que dicha institución hospitalaria  no posee el personal calificado ni las condiciones para que Yanet sobreviva y recupere su calidad de vida.
Por tal motivo ponen a disposición de quienes quieran apoyar esta causa un enlace para recibir donaciones que serán empleadas en las tramitaciones que requiere el caso, y que serán recibidas y administradas por Mary Sandra Chagas Techera https://www.facebook.com/samysand07?fref=ts), amiga y actual responsable de la paciente en estado crítico.
Para hacer sus donaciones entre a este enlace en la conocida página Gofundme.
Fuente: Blog de Cuba
El periodista Alejandro Condis desarrolló el siguiente reportaje que incluye un video de Yanet:

miércoles, diciembre 21, 2016

Los principios en los que debe basarse el Sistema de salud en una Cuba futura.

Les presentamos un artículo de enfoque afanoso pero necesario que busca explicar el futuro de la Salud Publica en Cuba; estableciendo premisas que solo son posibles con un cambio de régimen o al menos un gobierno de transición que permita instrumentar algunas de esas ideas. Mucho se h a considerado sobre lo que debe ser el planeamiento de un sistema de salud en Cuba para un país viviendo en democracia, este es uno de ellos…, no el único.
El futuro de la salud pública en Cuba
Por Francisco Porto
“Salud publix, suprema lex”, establece la máxima latina.
La buena salud es fundamental para el bienestar humano y el desarrollo económico y social sostenible. Los Estados miembros de la OMS se han fijado el objetivo de desarrollar sus sistemas de financiación sanitaria para garantizar que todas las personas puedan utilizar los servicios sanitarios.
En las Proyecciones del Ministerio de Salud Pública de Cuba, publicadas en el año 2006 se pronosticaba:
“Se mantendrán, incluso se profundizarán, los bajos niveles de fecundidad y natalidad, la mortalidad deberá seguir su corrimiento hacia las edades más avanzadas de la vida. La mortalidad geriátrica aún muy baja en el país, deberá aumentar en los próximos años. Por el efecto combinado de las variables: fecundidad, mortalidad y migraciones, se producirá un bajo crecimiento poblacional que llegará a detenerse e incluso a provocar un decrecimiento en los próximos años”.
El anteriormente citado progresivo y acelerado envejecimiento de la población cubana, sumado al éxodo de profesionales de la Salud por causas diversas y los resultados negativos de la ideologización del proceso de toma de decisiones a todos los niveles del Sistema han creado retos extraordinarios.
En la búsqueda de alternativas futuras de la Salud Pública en Cuba, merecen especial atención las propuestas del profesor Steven G. Ullmann de la Universidad de Miami, quien advierte que para una transición efectiva, sin importar el escenario político, será imprescindible:
a) Asegurar los servicios básicos de atención de salud para todos los ciudadanos.
b) Mantener los servicios médicos en las zonas rurales y montañosas del país.
Al analizar los problemas éticos en la priorización de la salud, es importante basarse en las ideas de dignidad humana e igualdad en los derechos humanos. No es lo que una persona hace o tiene lo que le da derecho a ser respetado, sino el simple hecho de ser un ser humano es el que establece su dignidad. Debido a esta dignidad, la persona humana no debe ser nunca un medio, sino siempre un fin.
El futuro de la salud pública de una Cuba en transición
Debemos aspirar a que la salud pública cubana tenga las siguientes características:
1) Universal
2) Preventiva
3) De responsabilidad compartida
4) Accesible
5) Compasiva
Universal quiere decir que llegará hasta el último rincón de país y se aplicará a todo ciudadano cubano sin exclusión. La financiación de la Salud Pública es un punto crítico en todo análisis. En el caso de Cuba, además de las aportaciones al erario público, se pudiera suplementar con el desarrollo de seguros de salud, públicos y/o privados, sin fines de lucro.
La medicina preventiva es la especialidad médica encargada de aplicar, fomentar e investigar actividades y políticas de promoción y protección de la salud; además de la vigilancia de la salud de la población, de la identificación de sus necesidades sanitarias y de la planificación, gestión y evaluación de los servicios sanitarios.
La responsabilidad individual es parte importante de esta propuesta, pero sobre la base de que la Salud es un derecho humano
Accesible significa que esté al alcance de cada ciudadano, sin ser necesariamente gratuita en todos los casos, aunque los Servicios Básicos de Salud deben ser provistos por el Estado. Un posible escenario, como plantea Ullmann, es permitir y fomentar un sistema de dos niveles, pública/privada, de la asistencia sanitaria.
A medida que surjan oportunidades para ciertas fuerzas del mercado, se puede desarrollar el deseo de los servicios de atención de la salud más allá de un sistema básico para todos. Tal sistema permitiría al personal médico trabajar en el sector público y complementar sus ingresos a través de la prestación de servicios en el sector privado. Así coexistirán el cuidado en instituciones públicas del Estado, la consulta individual, la de grupo, la cooperativa, el seguro, el mutualismo, el mutualismo mixto y las colaboraciones del extranjero.
La compasión, que va más allá de la empatía, es la piedra angular de la medicina y se ejerce individualmente o aplicada a grandes grupos. La compasión consiste en reconocer el sufrimiento de otra persona y tener el deseo de aliviarlo.
La formación médica de nuevas generaciones
Las Universidades de Medicina serán estatales, debidamente acreditadas y tendrán anexas al menos un hospital de la red de Asistencia Pública. Los estudios, aunque subvencionados por el Estado requerirán de un modesto pago por parte de los estudiantes como responsabilidad individual, que podrá ser reducido o eliminado por buenos rendimientos académicos, trabajos de ayudantía, etc.
Las instituciones de enseñanza médica en su niveles superior y medio y tendrán como base la larga y valiosa experiencia acumulada en Cuba, garantizando la uniformidad en el rigor de la formación de los futuros médicos y su correspondencia con las necesidades de la población.
Los médicos recién graduados deberán brindar un servicio social por un término de 2 años, como apoyo a la Medicina Rural en las regiones más inaccesibles. En casos extraordinarios se podrá cumplir este requisito en la ciudad, preferentemente en centros asistenciales públicos, por un periodo de 3 años. Cumplido este requisito, sin excepciones, los médicos quedan libres de compromiso con la red asistencial pública. Planes similares se aplicarán a los cursos de enfermería y técnicos de la Salud. De esta forma se garantizará que se disponga del personal requerido en cada localidad.
Reflexión
El Sistema de Salud de Cuba en el futuro debe basarse en tres principios:
1.- Universal
2.- De gestión pública, pero permite la práctica privada
3.- Accesible a todos
Ignorar los avances y logros de la Medicina en Cuba al tomar decisiones futuras no solo sería un error, sino que implicaría correr un peligroso riesgo social, pues la población no estaría dispuesta a renunciar a los beneficios que ya tiene.
Es imperioso, como se señaló anteriormente, garantizar los servicios básicos de atención de salud para todos los ciudadanos y mantener los servicios médicos en las zonas rurales y montañosas del país.
Como ha dicho el Papa Francisco, “no existe una vida humana más sagrada que otra, como no existe una vida humana cualitativamente más significativa que otra. La credibilidad de un sistema sanitario no es medida solo para la eficiencia, sino sobre todo para la atención y el amor hacia las personas, cuya vida siempre es sagrada e inviolable”.

domingo, diciembre 04, 2016

Castro's legacy: Cuban doctors still go abroad, but it's no longer driven by international solidarity

It used to be one of Fidel Castro’s flagship methods of spreading international communist solidarity to the rest of the world: sending doctors abroad. But in recent years, it also became a way for the US to tempt doctors to defect.
In early 2016, the Obama administration indicated it might put an end to a programme that offers Cuban doctors on international missions an American visa if they want to defect. Since it was set up by the Bush administration in 2006, 7,117 visa applications have been approved by the US Cuban Medical Parole Programme.
For some Cuban doctors I have spoken to as part of my ongoing research, the possibility of a US visa was the sole incentive for them to apply for a mission abroad. As one doctor I interviewed in Miami said to me, the only reason she solicited a mission in Eritrea was because it offered her an opportunity to escape from Cuba and start a new life in the US.
While the indications that this programme could stop came as part of the rapprochement between Cuba and the US, there is renewed uncertainty about the future of Cuba-US relations with the election of Donald Trump.

Soft medical power

But the history of Cuban doctors spending time on a mission abroad goes back much longer – and did not start with the goal of a new life in America.
The programme started shortly after the US embargo was implemented and Cuba was expelled from the Organisation of American States in 1962. Sending international missions abroad was a way of establishing new international relations, helping Cuba out of this forced isolation. In 1963, the Caribbean island initiated its first long-term international solidarity programme by sending a group of doctors to Algeria for 14 months.
Since then, Cuban health care professionals have offered their services all over the world – from Africa and South America to Portugal. Official numbers published by the Cuban newspaper Granma in 2014 reported that 131,933 Cuban doctors have participated since the early years of the revolution in missions to more than 107 countries. These international solidarity missions offer disaster relief, help when epidemics, such as the ebola outbreak in West Africa, arise, and provide health care provision in remote areas where patients have never had access to a doctor.

Motivations have changed

Through my ongoing oral history research, interviewing Cuban health care professionals both living in Cuba and abroad, I have seen a clear shift in the motivations for why people take part in missions overseas. While 50 years ago they were motivated by humanitarian passion and revolutionary conviction, economic interests and a chance to escape Cuba now drive their desire to work abroad.
Sergio (not his real name), is a retired doctor I interviewed in Cuba in July 2016. He first went on a mission in 1974 to Equatorial Guinea, then again to Haiti in 2002 and to Botswana in 2014. In the 1970s, participating in a mission was an honour as it was a way to help other countries in need, as well as to support the Cuban Revolution. As Sergio explained:
I saw many needs. I identified a lot with the programme of the revolution. Why was the Cuban internationalism necessary? Everything we did, we did it with love, with affection. The little we had, we gave it.
Although there were some economic incentives, such as the opportunity to buy a car, the main reason they took part at that time was a revolutionary passion, a humanitarian conviction, and possible career development upon their return. It wasn’t easy – and participation often meant 11 months away from their families with limited contact possibilities. Yet they were proud to provide support to the revolutionary process and health care to those in need. As Sergio said of his first mission:
From a personal point of view, it was very unpleasant, but I came back very happy, with my internationalist card of the mission accomplished.
Although the 1980s were a good economic period for Cuba, the fall of the Soviet Union changed everything. Two of the doctors I interviewed who were on a mission in Africa between 1989 and 1991 said that when they returned to Cuba, they were confronted with a country that wasn’t the one they had left two years earlier.
The economic consequences for Cuba were devastating. During what has been called the “special period in time of peace”, food became scarce, apagones (power cuts) were common, and Cuban people had to come up with ways to survive. This readjustment to the new economic circumstances, known as la lucha (the struggle), changed Cubans’ mindsets.
Many health care professionals opted to apply for missions at that time out of financial necessity. Sergio explained to me that he decided to go to Haiti “because I needed to eat. My salary here wasn’t enough”. Although not high, the salary paid to the internationalists is still much better than the one they receive in Cuba.

Cuban doctors gather in Havana. Alejander Ernesto/EPA

The 21st century has been marked by mass missions in South America. Thousands of Cuban health care professionals were working in Venezuela under the government of Hugo Chavez, and many of them are still sent there on a regular basis to work with the Mais Medicos programme in Brazil.
There is no doubt that participating in these missions has improved the financial situation of those who have taken part and their families. Some have saved to renovate their houses, others to purchase goods they would never have been able to afford in other circumstances. But this money never lasts very long because, as Sergio explains, everything is very expensive in Cuba, despite the country’s economic situation.

Impact on Cuban society

One of the common criticisms of sending Cuban doctors abroad is that it is a form of “selective humanitarianism” that diminishes the number of doctors in Cuba. Many of the people I talked to in Cuba during my research said they had to go to another health clinic, known as a consultorio, because their doctor was working on a mission abroad.
Cuban families have also suffered due to the prolonged separations linked to the missions. There are no official numbers about divorces linked to the international solidarity programme, but many of the participants involved explained to me that many couples separated – some of whom had defected to the US.
Being part of the international solidarity programme has been a very enriching and eye opening experience for many health care professionals, both from a professional and a personal perspective. But it has a complicated legacy and may not have always resulted in the best for the Cubans left behind.
The Conversation
Stéphanie Panichelli-Batalla, Lecturer in Spanish and Latin American Studies, Aston University
This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article.

sábado, diciembre 03, 2016

Cuba’s doctors are emigrating and quitting for lack of incentives.

By Katarina Hall.*
Cuba boasts that it has one of the world’s best healthcare systems and that it provides some of the best doctors out there. But this hasn’t stopped the island’s doctors from leaving the country in droves and abandoning their careers for better livelihoods in other fields. What gives?
The main reason that Cuba’s doctors are emigrating and quitting is simple: a lack of incentives. They work very demanding jobs for low wages and are subject to a whole set of regulations created especially for them—they are not allowed to leave the country without special permits and they have to attend to anyone who seeks their help, on penalty of jail time.
After the Revolution of 1959, the Cuban Communist Party banned private enterprise and established centrally-determined prices and salaries for nearly everything on the island. They also took over the country’s healthcare system, making all doctors state employees.
Doctors’ salaries of about $40-50 a month are actually $10-20 dollars per month more than the average Cuban’s. But the long hours and stressful conditions make up for it. Anyway, with Cuba’s rising prices, $40-$50 a month isn’t enough for a comfortable life. That’s why most doctors have picked up a second job or left medicine altogether, usually for a job in the growing private sector or in the black market. Being a doctor is prestigious, but paying the bills is more important. In Havana you can meet countless taxi drivers, cooks, and street vendors who were once doctors.

Take for example Clara, the caretaker of my neighbor’s elderly mother. A cheery woman in her late 50s, Clara told me that she had been a dentist for many years but that the bad pay had led her to quit and take up her current job. Clara provides for her mother, who has been diagnosed with senile dementia. Her dentist’s salary couldn’t put food on the table for one, let alone for two. While taking care of another elderly person is not the best-paying job out there, it provides Clara with the money and the flexible schedule she needs to take care of her own mother.
For a doctor to take up another profession is normal, she told me. “There are a lot of doctors who have ended up baking and selling cakes. And they bake because there is nothing better to do. You can sell a cake for 10 or 15 pesos. So if you make two cakes per day, you make some money and you don’t have to deal with a nine-to-five job where you are pressured and where you can’t earn a living.”
The flexibility of Cuba’s growing private sector has allowed many to quit their jobs with the Cuban state and move to jobs that pay in Cuban Convertible Pesos (CUC)—the convertible currency that’s worth about one US dollar. Unfortunately, only a limited number of private sector jobs are permitted: driving a taxi, renting out a house, running a restaurant and hairdressing, for example.
One person who has benefitted from such a move is Rosy, one of my neighbors. Rosy was a doctor for 24 years, but now she rents her apartment to tourists. Rosy explained to me that she had quit mainly because her wages, which were paid in Cuban Pesos (CUP), were just too low. “You get paid six CUP for each shift you take. Six CUP. Do you know how much six CUP is? Twenty-five cents of an American dollar. That is just enough for your day’s lunch.” By renting her apartment, Rosy makes an average of $20-$30 a night.
Rosy finally decided to quit her job after being sent on a year-long medical mission in Angola. Cuba is known for sending doctors to developing countries to do social work, usually to other socialist-friendly countries such as Venezuela, Bolivia, Ecuador, and Nicaragua. “In just one year in Angola, I made more than I had in 24 years,” she said. What disappointed her most was that she didn’t even get paid all the money she earned: “In the whole year there, I made up to a quarter of a million dollars. I know that because I had to register every procedure I did because I got paid depending on what I did and how many times I did it. But I didn’t receive the amount of money corresponding to my work. I only received ten percent of every procedure. From that quarter of a million, I only got $450 a month.” Seeing how much she could make in a year and how much of her money the Communist Party of Cuba kept, she decided to quit.
Rosy also told me that Cuban doctors are expected to be Good Samaritans—or else. “If a neighbor tells you to please check their sick kid you can’t charge them anything. It has to be free. And if you don’t check them, then they are able to turn you in to the authorities and say that you denied them your attention and service.”
Manuel, the taxi driver I’ve mentioned in previous posts, told me that his daughter was a doctor. He was sad that someone as smart and dedicated as his daughter would never have a decent life. “With her doctor’s title and $40 she can’t feed herself. I have to give her food and clothing, because if not, she can’t live. And she’s a doctor! Doctors can’t live here. Where would they live? What can they buy with that amount of money? What are they going to eat? They can’t survive.”

 *Katarina Hall is a Research Associate for Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation. She is a graduate of Universidad Francisco Marroquin in Guatemala, where she studied economic history.

Source: Dissident