Cuban Assistance is Appreciated
by Felix Bethel. November 27th, 2007
Politics and ideology should play no part in health related issues such as those that are to be derived from “Operation Miracle”.
As such, Bahamians should face no state or private sector hindrance in getting the health care they desire.
And for sure, poor Bahamians should never be prevented by any state or private sector interest from receiving free medical care from any source any where in the world.
Today we express this opinion as we also note that we are today in receipt of information suggesting that the Cuban and Venezuelan project called “Operation Miracle” is no longer being welcomed in the Bahamas.
Today some of those Bahamians who have already been treated by Cuban doctors want to know whether this is true or not.
These same Bahamians also know that they have other family, neighbours and friends who can also benefit from that wonderful project.
For our part, we are on the side of good and would therefore wish for this fine project to continue.
People in this region and around the world all attest to and affirm the importance of this project.
And so it is today that we give a programme funded by the governments and peoples of Venezuela and Cuba.
These two countries are currently being led by Hugo Chavez and Fidel Castro, respectively.
But since facts – as facts- are peculiarly stubborn things, so today we reference the fact that “Operation Miracle” –the brainchild of Fidel Castro and Hugo Chavez- is helping poor people see again.
Some of these poor people are Bahamians.
Today scores of these fine folk privately attest to the good that they have received, thanks to the work of Cuban doctors.
Their gratitude is today shared by very many other people around the region and around the world; people who have regained their sight.
As one ecstatic headline notes, Havana's Operation Miracle helps eye patients see light.
It seems a miracle that today scores of Bahamians who were once blind or becoming blind are today having their sight either restored or its condition improved.
This wonderful news comes not as some bolt out of the blue, but today come as a direct consequence of public policy on the part of two of our embattled neighbours.
In one telling instance an obviously elated Jamaican man exulted as he exclaimed, "I can see again!"
This man was one of many. His story was shared by 23 other poor patients from Jamaica who had just returned from successful eye operations in Cuba.
They too had had their sight restored or improved by Cuban doctors working and living in Cuba.
In another instance, we hear say that Jamaican Raymond Sterling was elated just after his cataract was removed. "After going there [Cuba], I could see again like before," he said. "Everything was like heaven."
The Cuban government’s strategy of medical diplomacy has worked; it has won friends and supporters in the smallest villages in nations in Central America and the Caribbean. It is the quality of the assistance, and the knowledge that it is given despite hardship within Cuba, that has left a lasting impression on Caribbean people, and increasingly now people in Central America.
And quite evidently, since ours is a country where people are taught that they have some rights we would hope that our health authorities would not stop people from getting the help they need.
More generally speaking, we agree with Sir Ronald Sanders when he notes concerning this project, “The brainchild of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and Cuban President Fidel Castro, this extraordinary humanitarian programme is offering free treatment to an estimated 4.5 million people suffering from eye-afflictions in Latin America and the Caribbean region over a ten-year period…
“With its ramshackle third world economy, Cuba appears to be an unlikely rival to rich western nations in medical prowess and humanitarian aid.”
The fact of the matter is that Cuba does this and more like this all around the world.
We are told by Sir Ronald that, “since the programme started over 750,000 people have been treated, and while there has not been success in every case, hundreds of thousands of people from Central America and the Caribbean now see where once their vision was severely blurred or they have been saved from a loss of eyesight in the future.”
This extraordinary feat must be put in proper context, if for only providing some much needed clarification.
That matter here concerns the fact that “Operation Miracle” is taking place in the real world; that place being the setting that has Cuba up against the mightiest power in the history of the world.
Cuba has survived, notwithstanding a half century of a formal trade embargo by successive governments of the United States, the abandonment of Russia and many years of economic deprivation.
And despite it all, the Cuban people continue to stretch out the helping hand to the Bahamas, its neighbours in the region and to the rest of the world.
Politics and ideology should play no part in health related issues such as those that are to be derived from “Operation Miracle”.
As such, Bahamians should face no state or private sector hindrance in getting the health care they desire.
And for sure, poor Bahamians should never be prevented by any state or private sector interest from receiving free medical care from any source any where in the world.
Today we express this opinion as we also note that we are today in receipt of information suggesting that the Cuban and Venezuelan project called “Operation Miracle” is no longer being welcomed in the Bahamas.
Today some of those Bahamians who have already been treated by Cuban doctors want to know whether this is true or not.
These same Bahamians also know that they have other family, neighbours and friends who can also benefit from that wonderful project.
For our part, we are on the side of good and would therefore wish for this fine project to continue.
People in this region and around the world all attest to and affirm the importance of this project.
And so it is today that we give a programme funded by the governments and peoples of Venezuela and Cuba.
These two countries are currently being led by Hugo Chavez and Fidel Castro, respectively.
But since facts – as facts- are peculiarly stubborn things, so today we reference the fact that “Operation Miracle” –the brainchild of Fidel Castro and Hugo Chavez- is helping poor people see again.
Some of these poor people are Bahamians.
Today scores of these fine folk privately attest to the good that they have received, thanks to the work of Cuban doctors.
Their gratitude is today shared by very many other people around the region and around the world; people who have regained their sight.
As one ecstatic headline notes, Havana's Operation Miracle helps eye patients see light.
It seems a miracle that today scores of Bahamians who were once blind or becoming blind are today having their sight either restored or its condition improved.
This wonderful news comes not as some bolt out of the blue, but today come as a direct consequence of public policy on the part of two of our embattled neighbours.
In one telling instance an obviously elated Jamaican man exulted as he exclaimed, "I can see again!"
This man was one of many. His story was shared by 23 other poor patients from Jamaica who had just returned from successful eye operations in Cuba.
They too had had their sight restored or improved by Cuban doctors working and living in Cuba.
In another instance, we hear say that Jamaican Raymond Sterling was elated just after his cataract was removed. "After going there [Cuba], I could see again like before," he said. "Everything was like heaven."
The Cuban government’s strategy of medical diplomacy has worked; it has won friends and supporters in the smallest villages in nations in Central America and the Caribbean. It is the quality of the assistance, and the knowledge that it is given despite hardship within Cuba, that has left a lasting impression on Caribbean people, and increasingly now people in Central America.
And quite evidently, since ours is a country where people are taught that they have some rights we would hope that our health authorities would not stop people from getting the help they need.
More generally speaking, we agree with Sir Ronald Sanders when he notes concerning this project, “The brainchild of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and Cuban President Fidel Castro, this extraordinary humanitarian programme is offering free treatment to an estimated 4.5 million people suffering from eye-afflictions in Latin America and the Caribbean region over a ten-year period…
“With its ramshackle third world economy, Cuba appears to be an unlikely rival to rich western nations in medical prowess and humanitarian aid.”
The fact of the matter is that Cuba does this and more like this all around the world.
We are told by Sir Ronald that, “since the programme started over 750,000 people have been treated, and while there has not been success in every case, hundreds of thousands of people from Central America and the Caribbean now see where once their vision was severely blurred or they have been saved from a loss of eyesight in the future.”
This extraordinary feat must be put in proper context, if for only providing some much needed clarification.
That matter here concerns the fact that “Operation Miracle” is taking place in the real world; that place being the setting that has Cuba up against the mightiest power in the history of the world.
Cuba has survived, notwithstanding a half century of a formal trade embargo by successive governments of the United States, the abandonment of Russia and many years of economic deprivation.
And despite it all, the Cuban people continue to stretch out the helping hand to the Bahamas, its neighbours in the region and to the rest of the world.
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