Healthcare in Cuba (II)

choi

(1) Peter Coyne, US vs Cuban Health Care: A Tale of Intestinal Fortitude. Daily Reckoning, Nov 20, 2014.
dailyreckoning.com/u-s-vs-cuban-health-care-tale-intestinal-fortitude/

Quote:

"after Michael had told us he was sick Monday, we let the hotel front desk know our new friend needed a nurse or doctor. * * * Michael came to us at 8:10 am on Monday, and within an hour, the nurse was at his door, already had a diagnosis and treatment and treated him [with a sterilized glass syringe].

"In Cuba, they’re able to keep costs low because they don’t do testing — except for very sophisticated illnesses. By contrast, we have doubts that many American doctors could do their job without tests or advanced technology [because they will be sued--that is why American doctors practice 'defensive medicine' (similar to defensive driving)].

"No system is without its flaw, however. They reuse syringes and needles because they can’t afford more hygienic disposable ones. They use half-century-old sterilization techniques. People get stabbed in the rump instead of swallowing a pill. They have no standards, so safety can vary from doctor to doctor. These are symptoms of a society with no money. The less money you have, the more shortcuts you’re forced to make.

Note: "Hasta luego."

Spanish English dictionary
* hasta luego (phrase): "goodbye, see you later"
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/hasta_luego
* hasta (preposition; from Arabic): "until, up to"
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/hasta#Spanish
* luego (adv; from Latin loco in the place of, instead of, for--ablative of locus): "later"
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/luego

choi

(2) WHO statistics
(a) Country Profile: Cuba
http://www.who.int/gho/countries/cub/country_profiles/en/
(Health systems > Essential health technologies)
(b) Clicking “Essential health technologies” leads to the following:

Cuba
http://www.who.int/medical_devices/countries/cub.pdf?ua=1
(i) population 11m (2013)
(ii) Per capita total health expenditure (PPP Int $) [footnote: WHO 2012 data]  405

*  “405” a year is NOT a typo--because
Cuba: WHO Statistical Profile. WHO, undated
www.who.int/gho/countries/cub.pdf?ua=1
(in the right column half way down the Web page, there is a graphic whose heading is "Per capita expenditure on health"--with x-axis (1995-2012 (inclusive)) and y-axis "US$ (at average exchange rate)"--that shows from 2007-2012 (inclusive) the expenditure was constant, about half of a thousand dollars.

(iii) Healthcare facility are all public--no private ones.
(iv) Medical equipment:
MRI 9
CT 54
Positron Emission Tomography Scanner [PET]  n/a [none]
Nuclear medicine 14
Mamograph (Density per 1,000,000 females aged from 50-69 old)  20
Linear accelerator  4
Telecobalt unit (Cobalt-60)  9
Radiotherapy 13