Our girl in Havana

Abstract

Cigars, salsa, old American cars, and socialism. Anna Ellis spent her elective in Cuba to learn about this fascinating Caribbean island Cuba's healthcare system is one of the successes of the revolution of 1959. Its doctors are highly skilled and very dedicated, and the concept of waiting for an operation or even an appointment is alien to a Cuban. Yet Cuba suffers from its dismal economy and remains an arch enemy of the United States, even finding itself on the US list of terrorist states. My interest in this contradiction and discovery of Cuban salsa took me to Havana in the sweltering heat of July and August 2002. Cuba is a poor country. It is hard to fit around the traditional concept of a “developing” country because it has highly advanced health and education systems. Yet it is by no means on a par with the developed world. Health care in Cuba is totally free. Private medicine is illegal, and even corrective laser eye surgery and plastic surgery are available at no charge. The emphasis is truly on primary care and community based medicine. Each city is divided up into areas called municipios , and each of these has a policlinic. Each policlinic serves 32 family doctors, who work in their own consultario , serving between 450 and 600 patients. A policlinic is like an outpatient department; various specialists run clinics such as general medicine, paediatrics, rheumatology, obstetrics and gynaecology, psychiatry, and dermatology. An emergency department caters for minor injuries and emergencies such as …