If by “God,” you mean the US economic blockade and by “irony,” you mean exactly what is expected - than yeah, you’re right.
Posted at 2007-01-17 19:25:57 [PermaLink]And in the "irony plus" category:
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Quebec firm arranges health-care in Cuba but you book flight
The Canadian Press
Published: Tuesday, January 16, 2007
MONTREAL -- A Quebec company is offering to arrange speedy health-care services for a fee in Cuba, but patients have to book their own flights.
Services Sante International charges $200 per medical file and patients must make their own flight and insurance arrangements.
President and founder Lucie Vermette said Tuesday that hip replacements cost between $5,000 and $6,000 and cataract operations cost $2,000 in Cuba. The Cuban doctors also do esthetic surgery.
“The care is given by highly qualified doctors and in five-star hospitals,” said Vermette, who has been to Cuba and added she has checked doctor qualifications.
She said the doctors speak Spanish and the majority also speak English, while some speak French, Russian and German. Translation can be provided, if needed.
Heart surgery and other complicated, riskier procedures aren’t available.
Once the patient’s file arrives in Cuba through the Quebec company, doctors can give a treatment recommendation and price within about three days, Vermette said.
Vermette said she was motivated to start the service after waiting six months to see a specialist.
I wouldn't beat that drum too loudly, Ran.
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OH PLEASE! US blockade?
Right, the French, Germans, Canadians, Brits and the rest of the (more highly advanced nanny-state) medical community is bound by it... What, no?
...and the US "blockade" actually prevented Coobah's (advanced Socialist) economic system from producing something to offer in trade! What, no again?
Ah. IF the "blockade" is meaningful in this regard, it only proves the failure of socialism to offer meaningful alternatives to US capitalistic medical advances *and* the failure of alternative socialized countries to make them available.
One can't make the claim that Coobah's brilliant socialized medical experiment is both more advanced than Americas AND that it's pathetic failures are the fault of America. Well, one can, but um, you know.
Actually Ran, they are sort of bound by it. US pharmaceutical companies can't sell to Cuba and neither can their foreign subsidiaries. If anyone has information to the contrary, I'd be happy to recant that.
In the past, Canadian charitable aid in the way of outdated drugs and used medical equipment has been sent by truck through the States and then by plane or boat to Cuba. My last conversation with people involved in those convoys was that it was a crap shoot whether or not they'd get through. Again, if anyone has info refuting that...
A friend that had recently visited Varadero, where she broke her leg, recalled with shock her medical experience there. The ambulance was EMPTY...nada...nothing in the way of any medical supplies. The Dr. had to take her x-ray pic outside to read it in the sunlight...no film reading light in the hospital (what the hell do they use at night?!).
Dan, "subsidiaries" no, the Gov't or foreign resellers, yes. Kresge and Canadian Tire can sell just about anything American they can get their hands on, from Theraflu to Cadillacs... Except that Cubans have no money and little to trade.
The problem with Castro's Cuba is his castration of the economy. Built upon entrenched socialist principles, almost no-one produces a surplus... Call surplus "wealth", call it "profit", but surplus which can be used in trade is needed before it can be used in medical purchases, foreign or domestic.
Even without America's faux "blockade", Cuba will remain impoverished until the Cubans are free to act for themselves, in their own personal best interests. ("Greed" to those of you who disdain human nature.) Then there will be surplus, and then there will be wealth...
The bitter paradox of the world's "finest" health-care system being third-rated by the world's "worst" eats away at socialists like a bad recurring nightmare. It should.
Watch Cuba! Once the gates of freedom open, Cubans will "discover" capitalistic economics, personal property and individual rights. Their island will become a free-trade zone like Hong Kong's was. Their economy will embarrass neighbors still entrenched with the poverty of socialist "economics."
AND THEY WON'T SIGN ON TO KYOTO. Bastards.
Note to any leftists or other Cuban apologists here - if you wish to retain any credibility, please don't use the "U.S. economic blockade" excuse. Of the approximately 190 countries in the world, one boycotts Cuba. If Cuba produced anything of value, they are free to trade with the entire world except the U.S.A. The problem is, they don't make much that the rest of the world values except sugar and beaches.
Posted at 2007-01-18 07:51:14 [PermaLink]Could one say that Cuba is behind the irony curtain?
When Castro croaks ( may god have mercy on his soul!) Cuba will be one of the world's hottest spots for investments of all sorts.
I agree with Ran Hay's take; socialism has "nutted" the country's ability to generate wealth. And it should be remembered that Cuba is an extremely wealthy land, which helps explain why the Spanish hung on to it right till the end.
Id even wager that with news of Castro's impending demise every merchant's association in South Florida is starting to sweat bullets.
I feel a rhumba comin' on!
I wouldn't break out the cocoa butter just yet, John; there's the small matter of Raul...and I don't mean the cabana-boy. ;)
Posted at 2007-01-18 12:50:48 [PermaLink]