Randy Smith wrote:
> >From: "Michael S. Lorrey" <retroman@turbont.net>
> >
> >For those who are still living pie in the sky over the 'great' system of
> >socialized medicine in Cuba, I direct you to an AP article by Pauline
> >Jelinek
> >today about their testimony before congress yesterday about the state of
> >medicine and things in general in Cuba, and their own attempt to defect
> >from a
> >Cuban medical mission in Zimbabwe, how the Canadian Embassy turned them
> >away.
> >They detail how the 'luxurious' hospitals that foreigners see and use when
> >they
> >visit Cuba are reserved only for them and Communist Party officials (where
> >have
> >we heard this before?), and the common Cuban has difficulty even getting
> >basic
> >anti-biotics and pain killers.
> >
> >I don't have a link, as I saw it in the Boston Globe today.
>
> Most students of the situation in Cuba who are also interested in general
> health issues agree on why health is generally good in Cuba: Meat is not
> easy to find for the average person there.
Is that all meat or just red meat? I'd have to argue against that, unless the
cuban government does not allow fishing. Cuba has some of the best seafood
fisheries around. I would say that cubans probably get far more exercise from
walking and biking than the average American, which I would guess is the main
contributor, while there have also been many reported instances of malnutrition
related diseases including blindness there. Also, considering that mortality
rates contradict the vegan mantra when a meat diet primarily depends on free
range animals, and that Cuban life expectancy is far lower than American
(although whether this is due to health or just so many people being shot by
the government, I can't tell), I'd have to say that your 'students of the
situation' are out to lunch.
Mike
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Mon Oct 02 2000 - 17:38:44 MDT