The power of Cuba's free healthcare

To read the whole story: http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/2012/07/2012726121435523765.html

Belen Fernandez 
Belen Fernandez is the author of The Imperial Messenger: Thomas Friedman at Work, published by Verso. She is a contributing editor at Jacobin Magazine.

The power of Cuba's free healthcare

The US's notion of health care as a commodity is countered by the virtues of free health provision in Cuba. Last Modified: 27 Jul 2012 10:27 Since the revolution in 1959 Cuba has sent more than 185,000 health professionals to help foreign countries [Reuters] In 1995, Nelson Mandela declared with regard to Cuban international solidarity missions to Africa over past decades: "Cubans came to our region as doctors, teachers, soldiers, agricultural experts, but never as colonisers. They have shared the same trenches with us in the struggle against colonialism, underdevelopment and apartheid." ****** ...the New York Times reported in 2009 that, "[i]n the 50 years since the revolution, Cuba has sent more than 185,000 health professionals on medical missions to at least 103 countries". ****** Former World Health Organisation director-general Halfdan Mahler has declared that "[n]o other country has been as consistent in taking measures towards achieving the goal of 'Health for All' as Cuba", while the New York Times hasacknowledged that "many expatriate [Cuban] doctors say their dealings with patients in Cuba were more humane and less rushed than they are in the United States".