Cuba's public health system, with its comprehensive family doctor program and tertiary care facilities, has been recommended as a "model for the world" by the World Health Organization. Doctors are allowed to get advanced certification in natural and alternative medicine including herbal treatments, acupuncture, homeopathy and mind-body medicine. In the last decade, natural medicine clinics have opened in every major city and more than 60 indigenous herbs with proven medicinal value have been identified. Cuba has invested in and maintains a sophisticated hospital system, but even more important is the national emphasis on preventative health measures and primary and community care. Every person has free access to a community doctor and nurse and the national health association is organized down to the block level to ensure care is given. Every pregnant woman is receiving pre-natal care.
Cuba has invested heavily in biomedical research, giving it one of the only genuine biomedical capacities in the world. It has 67,500 doctors (the highest per capita in the world) of which 30,133 are family doctors, 436 polyclinics, 275 hospitals (both general and specialized, including surgical, pediatric and maternal hospitals), 13 specialized medical institutes and 22 medical schools. The infant mortality rate is 7.5 per 1000 live births, lower than that of the District of Columbia, and the average life expectancy is 76 years.
40,000 Cuban health care workers have provided services in more than 90 countries and helped develop comprehensive health care programs in 16 countries in Latin America, the Caribbean and Africa. Cuba has also provided medical treatment for 19,000 children and adults from the three republics contaminated by the Chernobyl nuclear accident in 1986. Moreover, there are currently young people from 24 countries and 63 indigenous ethnic groups studying, free of charge, in Cuba's prestigious Latin American School of Medical Sciences.*
This article gives you a good idea of how Cuba manages one of the best healthcare systems in the world. The average medical costs per cuban citizen is only $230.00 a year(srce. world heatlth organiztion), compared to a whopping average of $7,600 for a U.s. Citizen(srce. world heatlth organiztion). Still the life expectancy and infant mortality are near identical for both countries. The U.S. grossed 12.36 trillion dollars last year which is by far the highest in the world. Cuba's gross was about $39 billion. You do the math.
Maybe our elected officials should learn a thing or two about running a country from the Castro brothers.
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