NationStates Jolt Archive

Cuba is continuing its long tradition of providing doctors for Third World countries. Solomon Islanders will also be able to go and study medicine in Cuba.

(See this very brief ABC Radio Australia report (http://www.radioaustralia.net.au/news/stories/s2030359.htm). I haven't been able to find any very recent article in the online Solomon Islands' press, but there are slightly older articles such as this one (http://www.solomonstarnews.com/?q=node/13224).)

And, in response, I'm sure that the US will raise a complaint to the Solomon Islands about some BS like "Providing materiel support to an Ebil Empire".

To which the Solomon should respond "Fine, then pay for our boys to be trained at Harvard for free! No? Then f*ck off!"

Good for them. More doctors are always a good thing for the developing world.

Are people implying that foreigners cannot attend US universities?

So are we all supposed to start saying what a great country Cuba is because of this?

Are people implying that foreigners cannot attend US universities?

No. I'm implying that the US does not provide FREE training for third-world doctors.

Indeed, few countries do. We'll send OUR doctors to help - which does nothing for self-sufficiency of those places.

No. I'm implying that the US does not provide FREE training for third-world doctors.

Indeed, few countries do. We'll send OUR doctors to help - which does nothing for self-sufficiency of those places.

Well, no offense, but why should we? The US government's job isnt to be "nice", that is the job of private charities.

So are we all supposed to start saying what a great country Cuba is because of this?

Nope. However the OVERALL issues with a government should not preclude you from giving kudos where due either.

And Cuba has a well established record (http://mondediplo.com/2006/08/11cuba) in their willingness to export medical expertise to those that need it.

Well, no offense, but why should we? The US government's job isnt to be "nice", that is the job of private charities.

The US is very involved in foreign aid in many instances, and given Kudos when it helps out - recent cases in point being such thins as the tasking of navy equipment and personel to help out in the aftermath of the Tsunami a couple of Christmas' ago.

And "being nice" clearly is the order of business when it is felt that letting a given state fail or fall into disarray would be disadvantageous to interest of national security. (Hello yearly billions to Isreal!!!)

"Being nice" often has the tangental side effects of healthier, wealthier trading partners with citizens well disposed towards your country. In that respect, "being nice" is in the national interest. It was, after all, just a couple of years back that the Australians had to intervene militarily in the Solomons.

So don't call it "being nice". Call it "raising the living standards of our export consumers" and let your companies reap the rewards.

Cuba has been doing this for quite a while now, a good example of universal health care with limited funds trumping even the most overfunded bloated private sector bureaucracy.

That is a pretty random news story to post a thread about but hooray. I remember Cuba offered the US doctors to help with Hurricane Katrina victims and the US turned them down.

That is a pretty random news story to post a thread about but hooray. I remember Cuba offered the US doctors to help with Hurricane Katrina victims and the US turned them down.

Kinda like when Chavez offered oil for heating in impoverished US cities?

When will these damned dirty commies realise that what third world countries need are really expensive weapons systems not medical aid.

Cuba is nice :)

Yet another nail in the coffin of the right-wing 'Cuban dictatorship' myth. If Cuba was such an oppressive regime with no thought apart from maintaining their own power, why would they send doctors to third world countries abroad?

kudos for Cuba.

so what does it take to achieve Solomon citizenship? ;)

so what does it take to achieve Solomon citizenship? ;)

According to t'Wiki (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Politics_of_the_Solomon_Islands):


At the time of independence, citizenship was granted to all persons whose parents are or were both British protected persons and members of a group, tribe, or line indigenous to the Solomon Islands. The law provides that resident expatriates, such as the Chinese and Kiribati, may obtain citizenship through naturalization.

That doesn't tell us much, but if you want information, Solomon Islands' legislation can be found online here (http://www.paclii.org/databases.html#SB). ;)

(I know it was a rhetorical question, but I felt like answering it. :p)


Edit: A-ha! Found it!


Citizenship by naturalisation

7.—(1) A person of full age and full capacity may apply in the prescribed manner to the Commission to be naturalised as a citizen.

(2) Where, on an application made pursuant to subsection (1) and as a result of such inquiries (if any) as the Commission may cause to be made, the Commission is satisfied that the person making the application, other than the female person to whom an application made under subsection (4) relates—6 of 1986, s. 2


(a) is, on the date of application, and has been, during the period of ten years immediately prior to that date ordinarily resident in Solomon Islands;

(b) intends to continue to reside in Solomon Islands;

(c) is of good character;

(d) unless prevented by physical or mental disability, is able to speak and understand sufficiently for normal conversational purposes English, Pidgin or a vernacular of Solomon Islands;

(e) has a respect for the culture and the way of life of Solomon Islands;

(f) is unlikely to be or become a charge on public funds;

(g) has a reasonable knowledge and understanding of the rights, privileges, responsibilities and duties of citizenship;

(h) has renounced in the prescribed manner any citizenship which he may possess; and

(i) has taken and subscribed to the oath of allegiance,

the Commission may grant the application, but otherwise shall refuse it.

(3) Subject to subsection (5), where, in his application, a male applicant requests that—


(a) his wife (not being a citizen);

(b) any child of his named in the application; or

(c) both his wife and any such child,

shall become a citizen by naturalisation, any person to whom the application so relates shall become such a citizen when, pursuant to the application, the applicant becomes a citizen by naturalisation.

(4) Where in an application made under this subsection—6 of 1986, s. 2


(a) a citizen requests that his wife shall become a citizen by naturalisation; or

(b) a wife of a citizen requests that she shall become a citizen by naturalisation;

and as a result of such inquiries as the Commission may cause to be made, the Commission is satisfied that the female person to whom the application so relates—


(i) was married to that citizen in accordance with law or custom of Solomon Islands, before the application was made;

(ii) is not living apart from that citizen under a decree of court or a deed of separation;

(iii) is, on the date of the application, and has been, during the period of two years immediately prior to that, ordinarily resident in Solomon Islands;

(iv) satisfies the conditions specified in paragraphs (b) to (i) (inclusive) of subsection (2); and

(v) in the case of an application made by such female person, that her husband consents to the grant of citizenship to her by naturalisation,

the Commission may grant the application but otherwise shall refuse it.


(source (http://www.paclii.org/sb/legis/consol_act/ca148/))

Kinda like when Chavez offered oil for heating in impoverished US cities?

Chavez was trying to be a dick, though...those "impoverished US cities" were places like New York and Boston...hardly impoverished.

As for Cuban health care...they might have an otherwise screwed up government and economy, but their health care is absolutely superb.

As for Cuban health care... their health care is absolutely superb.and their education system is top of America too.
.
Chavez was trying to be a dick, though...those "impoverished US cities" were places like New York and Boston...hardly impoverished.Chavez offered aid to New Orleans too, but AFAIR it was blocked by Bush..

... the Bush Gov mismanaged a lot of the Help coming from other countries.

Kinda like when Chavez offered oil for heating in impoverished US cities?

Sort of like how a drug dealer might give out some free product to get people hooked on it...it's especially laughable when you consider how forceful he has been in driving up oil prices and demanding OPEC quota cuts in the first place.

..it's especially laughable when you consider how forceful he has been in driving up oil prices..Chavez is NOT driving the gas pump prices.

here are some of the factors that had/have a measurable influence:

# Iraq War
# Katrina
# China emergence
# Iran related sable rattlings
etc.

Yet another nail in the coffin of the right-wing 'Cuban dictatorship' myth. If Cuba was such an oppressive regime with no thought apart from maintaining their own power, why would they send doctors to third world countries abroad?
To make friends and influence people.



Anyway, this is indeed nice of them.

Yes, but the picture is mixed, in some nations the Cuban government sends Cubans for free, in others for barter, in others for hard currency money $, in others for any 2 of the mix.

My Cuban family members still in Cuba should not have to ask me to send them an aspirin when the Cuban government sends Doctors and Medicines to other nations.

Alot of great threads tonight.

Sort of like how a drug dealer might give out some free product to get people hooked on it...it's especially laughable when you consider how forceful he has been in driving up oil prices and demanding OPEC quota cuts in the first place.

That is such a lie, more than anything Iraq is what shot oil up, although other issues exist.

Chavez is NOT driving the gas pump prices.
That is such a lie, more than anything Iraq is what shot oil up, although other issues exist.
Dudes, look at what Chavez says and wants at OPEC meetings. Look at the fact that PDVSA charges Argentina heaps more than other oil companies.

The man is in the business to make money. He needs it to fund all his projects and programs. He needs those to stay in power.

Dropping oil prices, more use of biofuels or healthy competition or tenders for oil contracts are not on his agenda.

And it's not just in the Solomons:


Impoverished Cuba sends doctors around the globe to help the poor

Cuba has been flooding some poorer parts of the region with doctors and humanitarian workers since the tsunami tragedy in Indonesia on Boxing Day, 2004. Swathes of the Pacific, from Kiribati to East Timor, are becoming dependent on Cuban medical aid, and the Cubans appear to be winning hearts and minds. Following the Java earthquake in May, teams of doctors were quickly flown to affected areas.

Indonesia's regional health co-ordinator, Ronny Rockito, said the two Cuban field hospitals and 135 workers made a bigger impact on the humanitarian crisis than the work of any other country.

"I appreciate the Cuban medical team; their style is very friendly and their medical standard very high," Mr Rockito said. [...] "Many villagers begged the Cuban doctors to stay."

In addition to an existing Cuban medical mission in Kiribati, teams from Cuba went to Aceh and Sri Lanka in the tsunami aftermath, and some staff have stayed on.

In answer to a request from East Timor, 286 Cuban doctors are now working in rural areas and Dili, where they have established a facility for hundreds of locals to study medicine. The Solomon Islands and Papua New Guinea have recently requested medical aid from Havana, with a view to signing bilateral co-operation agreements.

The acting head of the Cuban Foreign Ministry's Asia Department, Miguel Angel Ramirez, said increased activity in the Pacific was a result of Cuba's commitment to spread medical aid to the poor around the globe.

"Some of these Pacific islands are in bad shape," said Mr Ramirez, a former ambassador to Indonesia. "We are not involved in any security issues in the region. We have doctors all over Latin America and parts of Africa."

Despite its impoverished economy, battered by US economic sanctions, Cuba - population of just over 11 million - has 20,000 doctors serving in 68 countries.

[...] After last year's Pakistan earthquake, a local publication, Dawn, reported that President Pervez Musharraf's military-based government was under pressure from Washington to decline all offers of aid from Havana.

Eventually Cuban medical teams were welcomed, and by last January more than 1000 doctors from Havana had arrived in devastated Kashmir.

Official data from Islamabad said 73 per cent of all patients were treated by Cubans at some stage, in 44 different locations.

Dr Araceli Castro, a Cuban specialist in public health at Harvard University, said the benefits of Cuba's health crusade far outweighed ideological divisions.

"I don't understand why anybody should be opposed to bringing healthcare to those who can't afford it," he said. "What Cuban doctors are doing to help the poor should be beyond politics."


(link (http://www.smh.com.au/news/world/impoverished-cuba-sends-doctors-around-the-globe-to-help-the-poor/2006/10/27/1161749315614.html))


The child mortality rate in Kiribati has been cut by 80 percent following the arrival last year of ten Cuban doctors.

The news comes as Australia warns Papua New Guinea not to recruit Cuban doctors because of Australian fears that it would destabilise security in the Pacific.

Solomon Islands is to begin recruiting Cuban doctors this weekend and Fiji is considering a Cuban offer to provide doctors.

[...] Dr Airam Meetai says the project has been a huge success and the Cuban doctors have lowered infant mortality rates from 50 in every 1,000 to 9.9.

“It’s a wonder. The reality is the home visits and they study every people in the home and they collect data on each of the people staying in each of the households and then they work like that, checking all pregnant mothers, follow them up, check them and then refer them to the specialists.”

(link (http://www.rnzi.com/pages/news.php?op=read&id=33793))


Kiribati discusses medical training with Cuba

[...] A first group of ten Cuban doctors is already working in the country’s main hospital in the capital, Tarawa, and a joint committee is now discussing a scholarship system that would train Kiribati students in the medical profession.


(link (http://www.rnzi.com/pages/news.php?op=read&id=26617))

Cuba is generous with its doctors. IMS they offered to send some to New Orleans after Katrina.

Cuba is generous with its doctors. IMS they offered to send some to New Orleans after Katrina.

Indeed they did. Bush's government refused to authorise it, prefering to leave New Orleans' people suffering rather than allow them to see Cuba helping out.

It's a nice comparison between socialist mainland Cuba which helps with doctors around the world, has an excellent free health care system, a local grassroots -styled direct democracy based on communist principles, guarantees of a government job or else a government wage. And the Cuba of Miami which is a drug-addled, crime-infested, anti-social morass of all the worst aspects of humanity including corruption, crony capitalism and a murderous gang system, while the capitalist overlords and Cuban 'nationalists' enforce the US imperialist blockade.

More than anything it's ideological, the capitalist classes of the US hate leftist concepts like direct democracy, free healthcare, popular activism and the like.

Ah... <_< .. OK??? ....>_> :confused:

So what?

When will these damned dirty commies realise that what third world countries need are really expensive weapons systems not medical aid.

Far more dastardly is the fact that once Cuba has provided free training, we can all entice those doctors and nurses to leave the Solomon Islands where they're needed to come and work in our hospitals for low pay, though higher than if they stayed where they were.

Fantastic stuff, Britain's already raped South Africa of all their nurses because, let's face it, AIDS sufferers are going to die anyway.

Cuba is continuing its long tradition of providing doctors for Third World countries. Solomon Islanders will also be able to go and study medicine in Cuba.

(See this very brief ABC Radio Australia report (http://www.radioaustralia.net.au/news/stories/s2030359.htm). I haven't been able to find any very recent article in the online Solomon Islands' press, but there are slightly older articles such as this one (http://www.solomonstarnews.com/?q=node/13224).)

Cuba does a wonderful job of *exporting* medical aid.
It's too bad they don't do much for those within their borders.
Cuban medical clinics have two tiers - the ones they show off and are reserved for the Upper Level Party Members, and clinics for everyone else - long lines, no available medicines, no treatment beyond basic preventative care...
As long as all the average Cuban needs is a quick physical, he's fine- but should his kids get sick or his mother get cancer - well, say goodbye....

Cuba claims U.S. embargo is behind it, but I have to wonder- when we get all of OUR prescription drugs from China and Canada - why doesn't Cuba do the same when they trade with BOTH of those countries and have a better relationship with China than we do ???

There are two Cubas - the one they show you, and the one Cubans live in- it's a shame that some people are so easily misled by an old man in green khakis living well off the backs of the laborers he claimed to represent.

Yet another nail in the coffin of the right-wing 'Cuban dictatorship' myth. If Cuba was such an oppressive regime with no thought apart from maintaining their own power, why would they send doctors to third world countries abroad?

Taking care of your own people when few are allowed to see what life for them is really like isn't nearly as useful politically as sending medical help to outsiders where the World Press can pick up on it and tell you how awesome you are @@

It's a nice comparison between socialist mainland Cuba which helps with doctors around the world, has an excellent free health care system, a local grassroots -styled direct democracy based on communist principles, guarantees of a government job or else a government wage. And the Cuba of Miami which is a drug-addled, crime-infested, anti-social morass of all the worst aspects of humanity including corruption, crony capitalism and a murderous gang system, while the capitalist overlords and Cuban 'nationalists' enforce the US imperialist blockade.

More than anything it's ideological, the capitalist classes of the US hate leftist concepts like direct democracy, free healthcare, popular activism and the like.
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHahahahahahahahahahaha....

.......

*cries for having read past the first few lines*

When will these damned dirty commies realise that what third world countries need are really expensive weapons systems not medical aid.

Oh, trust me. They do. Why do you think they dumped millions of these (http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/57/AK-47_type_II_Part_DM-ST-89-01131.jpg) and these (http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/8/8d/Rpg-7.jpg) into the global south for the last half century? And before you say it: The Cubans were doing it too, not just the Russians and the Chinese. Ever heard of Angola and Ethiopia?

Yet another nail in the coffin of the right-wing 'Cuban dictatorship' myth. If Cuba was such an oppressive regime with no thought apart from maintaining their own power, why would they send doctors to third world countries abroad?

It's called international politicking. It's pretty common.