What kind of healthcare system is #Cuba's? Is it really all milk and honey as claimed by Havana? How competent are Cuban doctors? What's the story of Cuban doctors who defected from the medical brigades and sought refuge?

Let's have a short look at it in this thread. #COVID19
They tell us Cuban doctors are way more professional than those elsewhere, even in free countries.

No doubt, Cuban doctors do a very good job with whatever they have in hand. They're not really bad when it comes to working with medical equipment not available back home in Cuba.
Which in itself is to their credit.

But here's the catch: Cuba's healthcare system has a three-tier system.
Tier 1 is for the ruling Communist elite.
Tier 2 is for wealthy tourists who can pay hard cash.
Tier 3 is for Cuban citizens.

Tier 1 and 2 are more or less the same.
What about Tier 3? To put it briefly, it's a nightmare.

Don't believe me? Read this article by @belenmarty.
https://panampost.com/belen-marty/2015/10/06/inside-the-cuban-hospitals-that-castro-doesnt-want-tourists-to-see/?__cf_chl_jschl_tk__=3c7f43edcb420d7691b30ae3a63acd61f3bdd7cb-1587013372-0-AV_J302qjjKo6WMqe9KRLzm2oEYL3iVGVHxDYxVcI5_305g-_84QtDvuFmaY8Q2xJ9ZcGIn5Io9IIkH8ZX2rFQoCds4ve0YyZ8Kzt2R7oGCQT0zLK0ddB_Jntre5l4VbY987zUPjxg8MtVj5pHiG6kCi4N4eqM87pK5M_76jplFKihuEoaiB3O5gwlo0eIFuYyF4RdRr-xTixkqgewbMYbYgJ4O0kG4G1iOfKY9Hnxhaf6a2wHHvpBA5vDhVhVUp1WGPgf1TnpwPdyZlKKoEjMg8Pk4wGEzTQshY62ufx2hnvGZBSByeBzTeITGJAe4ycNFDuWO-PTTz92qrvHTLfS0rfXYVgcu6l2R4ELsO1Wogk6HBeAwABolMALO2pyHCGFVYqG5CPpmJpCr_P9BMhtOSUF8qUWPe5hMdILNYRX7g7aiP_pgFXQj4nsJtjPkLBbK7sKh3UZDz3RZBFAHokWY&cn-reloaded=1

Also read this article (in Spanish).
https://www.radiotelevisionmarti.com/a/el-horror-de-parir-en-la-habana/34214.html

A bigger nightmare can't be seen elsewhere. Cuban citizens get this "healthcare".
They aren't allowed anywhere near hospitals that serve the ruling Communist elite or wealthy foreign tourists.

Also, Cuba's education is outdated.
https://therealcuba.com/?page_id=62 

Is it any surprise that driving cabs fetches more cash than being a doctor in Cuba? https://www.vox.com/2015/10/26/9593658/cuban-castro-taxi-driver-doctor-economy
Whatever happened to Cuba's world-class healthcare? How come HIV and dengue exploded? At this point of time, unless an independent audit is conducted on the COVID-19 situation in Cuba, any and all claims by Havana are suspect. Cuba isn't exactly known for transparency.
Now let's move on to Cuba's international medical brigades.

Starting with the WHO and its Pan American wing PAHO, Cuba has been profusely praised for battling COVID-19. But as we saw above, Cuba didn't eliminate Zika even in 2019. How can we trust the Cuban regime on COVID-19?
Cuba's medical brigades operate more like human trafficking/prostitution rackets.

Doctors work overseas and earn hard currency, most of which is taken by the Cuban regime whilst a pittance is thrown to the doctors who slogged all the way in far away countries to earn that money.
Read the accounts of Cuban doctors who defected from Cuba's overseas missions.
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-48214513

The consequences of defection are very dire. Defecting doctors can't return to Cuba without authorities harassing, imprisoning and possibly killing them and/or their families.
Cuban doctors who can't find patients overseas are asked to requisition medicines/pharmaceuticals for non-existent patients. Cuba's state-owned Farmacuba buys medicines from India, China and Russia and sells them at a higher cost in the host countries. https://www.wsj.com/articles/audit-the-whos-pan-american-arm-11586717189
Before the fall of the USSR, doctors were used by the Cuban regime to strengthen Cuba's geopolitical outreach overseas. Starting in the 1980s, they became more commercial than ideological.

Why is that again? Cuba was subsidized heavily by the USSR till the latter's collapse.
Even as Cuba's medical brigades are commercial ventures that help to keep the regime in Havana afloat, they're often accompanied by Cuba's military and intelligence personnel who closely monitor their every move.

In case any doctor steps out of line, the intelligence officials/
keep a tab on it and impose penalties ranging from warnings and confiscation of a percentage of the already paltry salary Cuban doctors receive to expulsion from the mission and an immediate return to the island.

Doesn't this remind you of human trafficking/prostitution rackets?
Because that's how it looks to me. A huge organized racket wherein the trafficked victims (in Cuba's case, doctors) earn a pittance of what the owner/trafficker (the Cuban regime) gets.

So tell me again, how do we trust anything coming out of the regime's megaphones at Havana?
This is the end of my thread on #Cuba and its healthcare system.

Thank you all for reading.

Good morning. Have a nice day.
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