Saturday 26 November 2016

Saturday Photo: What Happens to Cuba's Health System after Fidel's Death?

Thinking about Fidel Castro's death: Three years ago exactly I was in Brasília, doing research for my book Road through Time. The top floor of the hotel where I was staying was taken over by Portuguese classes for about 40 Cuban doctors, come to work in the Brazilian hinterland on some sort of cooperative program.

Seemed passing strange to me.  So I asked about this, and I was told by Brazilians that their doctors didn't like to work in the bush, and so their health system depended on Cubans to do what amounted to Peace Corps type work in a country that to all eyes was much more prosperous.

I suspect that other parts of South America also benefited from programs of this sort. What will happen now to Cuba's really quite remarkable health system?

The photo was taken from the top floor of the hotel.  Check out the cars: definitely not what you'd see in Cuba. 

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