Castro offers eye care for US poor

[occuserpens]

Don't mess with Fidel

Castro offers eye care for US poor
Fidel Castro, the Cuban president, has offered free eye operations to impoverished Americans and asked the US government to let them travel to his country for treatment.
Castro made the offer late on Sunday as he criticised American policies toward his country during a three-hour appearance on state television and announced a protest march for Tuesday outside the American embassy in Havana.
Because travel to Cuba by most Americans is prohibited under US sanctions, Castro asked US authorities to give Americans official permission to travel to Cuba for the operations.
"We're ready to send an airplane to Florida to pick them up," Castro said. Cuba would foot the costs of flights, accommodation and the surgery, Castro said.

[Carni]

1. What sort of eyecare is he referring to? eom

[freeplessinseattle]

2. probably laser treatment

to improve vision.

[occuserpens]

3. surgery

Glaucoma?

[NuttyFluffers]

37. political myopia

a very dangerous disease, afflicting young and old. sufferers are often condemned to an existence of the unexamined life. heartwrenching to behold, yet extremely difficult to get close enough to treat. this is because the afflicted feels the necessity to strike all non-sufferers with the same handicap that is their ailment.

the plague is quite advanced in our nation. sufferers leading sufferers, stumbling over one another, all quite tragic. one might say it's an ironic tableau acted out and we are all waiting for the coming savior with the one eye...

[happydreams]

48. LOL. nice one.

If Castro is treating it no wonder the rethugs hate him.

:hi:

[sasha031]

4. I read somewhere he has closed the hotels to tourist this season

so that impoverished nation would receive free eye care.

[GrumpyGreg]

5. Thanks,but no thanks,Fidel!

[LynnTheDem]

6. Why?

[Maddy McCall]

7. If I could have Lasix for free in Cuba, I'd go.

[occuserpens]

9. I think he means something more serious

[Maddy McCall]

12. Article says "free eyecare surgery to the poor."

Lasix is eye care surgery.

[Maddy McCall]

13. What's happening is that Castro and Chavez are, through their offers,

pointing out to Americans the decline of domestic programs under this administration. Actions speak louder than words, and these offers are meant not only to help America's poor but also to embarrass Bush.

[GoddessOfGuinness]

16. Revolutions are begun by poor people

Sometimes wealthy people remember this, and make efforts to narrow the gap between rich and poor. Sometimes they need reminders.

The gap isn't getting narrower. In fact, since Dumbyass took over, there's an even wider income gap between the rich and the filthy rich. Castro and Chavez are sending the misadministration a valuable hint. Too bad they aren't smart enough to figure it out while they bathe in their big bucks.

[K-W]

17. Do the people of the US look close to revolution to you?

I think the elites in this country have every reason to believer they can get away with a major belt tightening and I havent seen a good reason to disagree with them.

[GoddessOfGuinness]

18. Then maybe Castro's offer serves an awakening purpose

on the other end of the income spectrum as well. What you say is true; and if people are willing to settle for less, they'll get what they expect. Change won't occur until it's demanded.

[ninkasi]

20. Maybe not

But some states have eagerly accepted Chavez' offer of discounted heating oil for low income residents. Castro and Chavez are pointing out ways in which the current administration has no concern for the poor. They are doing this to cause Lil Boots discomfort. Unfortunately, he doesn't care what they, or the world thinks of him. He only wants his way.

[Bridget Burke]

23. He probably means Cataract Surgery

Cataracts can lead to total blindness. But they can be corrected by surgery done on an outpatient basis. If the patient can afford it.

[K-W]

14. In America we like our poor people to have bad vision thank you. EOM

[Wabbajack]

38. So people should just stay blind when they don't have to be

I have mixed feelings on Castro but if he is serious I THANK him.

[951-Riverside]

8. Does this come with a free trip up to Canada & down to Cuba?

[occuserpens]

10. Look, he is serious. It is not about entertainment!

[Maddy McCall]

11. 951 is pointing out that the only way you can go to Cuba...

is to first fly to Canada and then to Cuba, because it's illegal to visit Cuba now.

[High Plains]

15. It's a very short flight from Cancun, too.

45 minutes to Havana.

[Mika]

31. Its illegal for Americans to go to Cuba - no matter how they get there.

Unless one has a special permit from the US's OFAC/Treasury Dept.

There are direct daily flights to Cuba out of Miami and Ft Lauderdale, but those flights are for the Cuban "exiles" who "escaped" Cuba.. they are the only US citizens/residents allowed by US law to go for a visit to Cuba without a special OFAC permit. (That in itself reveals just how absurd it is to refer to Miamicubans as having escaped or defected from Cuba if they are returning for a vacation/visit. Cuban immigrants come to the US for the same reason that most all immigrants come to the US - economic reasons/jobs.)

[High Plains]

35. Just because it's illegal doesn't mean you can't do it.

I did it via Cancun. The Cubans customs officials were very nice. They reminded me that I probably did not want my passport stamped.

As Transcendalist proto-hippie Henry David Thoreau once asked about evil laws:

"Shall we be content to obey them, or shall we endeavor to amend them and obey them until we succeed, or shall we transgress them at once?"

[Andromeda]

19. No doubt this is meant to embarrass Bush,

but it's a pretty generous offer for those who can't afford eye care if the U.S. relaxes the regulations for this purpose.

If people can't get health care in their own country why shouldn't they go elsewhere if it's opened to them? We SHOULD be taking care of our own, but we're not.

[llmart]

22. First, our elderly have to go to Canada to get their medicine.....

then the poor have to turn to Chavez for heat and now to Fidel for eyecare. Oh, yeah. We're the greatest country in the world.

The bulk of the people in this country will not wake up until it's too late.

[fasttense]

21. Why does Castro think we want our poor to be able to see?

Castro and Chavez need to stop helping our poor, it embarrasses the super rich repukes.:sarcasm:

[OKthatsIT]

29. yeah...its totall unAmerican too see

[Judi Lynn]

24. They've been busy helping others in this hemisphere for a long time

A quick google run shows:

Cuba offers free Eye Surgery to Belizeans

The Island Newspaper, Ambergris Caye, Belize Vol. 15, No. 37 September 15, 2005

Twenty people departed San Pedro Town on Monday, September 12th, 2005, bound for Cuba to receive free eye surgery, which will be provided to them free of cost. Last Friday, Dr. Silvia L. Alvarez and María N. Lam, accompanied by Cuban optometrist Frances Jones visited "La Isla Bonita" to conduct screening on anyone who suffers from any eye disease. After a complete eye exam, 54 patients have been approved to travel to Cuba and have their conditions remedied. The surgery, along with trip to and from Cuba, accommodation, hospital fees and medication will all be provided free of cost.
In an interview with Cuban Ambassador to Belize, Eugenio Martinez, this program named Misión Milagro (Miracle Mission) first began in Venezuela where approximately 60,000 patients traveled to Cuba for eye surgery. "Because of financial constraints or the inaccessibility to the services, many individuals suffer from conditions that are very easy to treat. Since we receive these surgeries free of charge in Cuba, we decided to start helping other people," stated Ambassador Martinez. He went on to explain, "Approximately eight million people worldwide suffer from treatable conditions like cataracts that we could help out. In Venezuela, in one year we provided surgeries for thirty-eight thousand people; more than one hundred patients a day. We have the facilities and the capacity to treat up to twenty thousand patients at a time. We started with the Caribbean, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Grenada and Belize."
(snip/...)

http://www.sanpedrosun.net/old/05-373.html

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Last Updated: Wednesday, 30 November 2005, 20:45 GMT

Panama welcomes Cuba eye surgery

Cuba is proud of its health system and highly-trained doctors
Panama President Martin Torrijos says he wants to thank Cuban President Fidel Castro for giving many poor Panamanians their sight back, on a visit to Havana.
Dozens of Panamanians are arriving in Cuba for free eye operations, under a scheme called Operation Miracle.

Cuba already offers thousands of poor Latin Americans free medical treatment.
(snip/...)

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/4486708.stm

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Cuba’s eye surgery program becomes popular in Caribbean
11/5/2005

From: The Militant, New York


By: ARRIN HAWKINS


Submitted by Leon Gilbert

The Cuban government has expanded its medical program Misión Milagro (Mission Miracle) to residents of Latin America and the Caribbean, providing operations in Cuba free of charge for people with cataracts and other treatable eye conditions.

The program grew out of Cuba’s internationalist collaboration in Venezuela, where nearly 20,000 Cuban doctors are providing health care in rural and working-class communities. So far, tens of thousands of Venezuelans have received eye operations in Cuba.

Since the program was expanded in July, more than 5,000 people from 10 Caribbean countries have had operations in Cuba to restore their sight, the Cuban embassy in Guyana has reported. The joint Cuban-Venezuelan plan, covering people from all Latin America and the Caribbean, offers to treat 600,000 people a year over the next 10 years.

Cuban doctors are performing some 1,500 eye operations a day. Free transportation to Cuba is provided along with food and lodging for the patients. The simple operation takes about 10 minutes.

More than 2,000 Guyanese so far have received eye treatment in Cuba. “If people had to go to a private doctor for the same treatment, it could cost up to US$2,000 each,” the Guyanese health minister told the Jamaican Observer.

More than 3,000 patients from Belize have received eye surgery. “Because of financial constraints or the inaccessibility to the services, many individuals suffer from conditions that are very easy to treat,” said Eugenio Martínez, Cuba’s ambassador to Belize, in an interview in the September 15 issue of the Belizean newspaper San Pedro Sun.

David Scott, a 75-year-old Jamaican farmer, had been blind from cataracts for two years before his sight was restored in Cuba in September. Surgery at a local hospital had repeatedly been postponed. “When you can’t see it makes you miserable and it is like you’re sick and a part off your life is gone,” Scott told the Jamaica Observer. “When them take off the bandage off me eye me see the wall and the doctors. Oh man, you can’t imagine how it feel.”
(snip/...)

http://geoffandwen.com/blind/newsarticle.asp?u_id=9614



On edit, adding:

More than 100 Guyanese off to Cuba for eye surgery
‘Batch’ system to be implemented in local screening process
July 26, 2005

The first batch of Guyanese eye-patients left Guyana today for Cuba to undergo surgery for various eye ailments. The batch, estimated to number 117 and including five children met President Bharrat Jagdeo and Cuban Ambassador Jose Manuel Inclan at the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC) prior to their departure.

Addressing the patients, who were packed to leave for their one-weesk stay in Cuba, President Jagdeo wished the patients good luck and thanked the Cuban Government for its generous offer.

On July 20, Guyana and Cuba took its relations a step higher through another humanitarian gesture by the Government and people of Cuba to Guyanese. Special Envoy to Cuban President Fidel Castro, Maria Elena Soto, brought a message from President Castro to President Jagdeo that Guyanese can access eye-care treatment and surgery in Cuba at the expense of the Cuban Government. The programme addresses cataract and glaucoma, as well as several other eye-related illnesses and is fully funded by the Cuban Government.

Three Cuban ophthalmologists arrived in Guyana on July 21 to begin the examination and screening of Guyanese patients.

The President explained to the patients that the Government of Guyana has an existing eye-care programme, but it has been stretched and found to be inadequate. The Guyana Government’s $50M eye care programme provides spectacles and there is a surgery programme, which is executed from the Low Vision Centre at the Georgetown Hospital, where the screening of patients for surgery in Cuba is being done.

“So it was a god-send when President Castro sent his special envoy. I am amazed at the speed at which the programme is being implement. She spoke to me and the next day the doctors were here,” he said.

Patients will be given a one-week post-surgery care before returning to Guyana. According to the Director of Regional Health Service Dr. Bheri Ramsarran, who has been placed in charge of the programme, the Cuban doctors in Guyana will give the patient three months post-operative care upon their return.
(snip/...)

http://www.op.gov.gy/stories/050726.htm

[happydreams]

49. Great work Judi!

[killbotfactory]

25. OMG! They'll make the poor sign an oath to the MARX BROTHERS!

we cannot tolerate this communist threat!

[Judi Lynn]

26. Shocking, just shocking!

[Name removed]

27. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Judi Lynn]

28. Just like the people of Latin America are defecting and seeking freedom

from their countries' leaders, right?

Only those poor defectors are not offered instant legal status the moment they reach dry land, and are, instead, tracked down and imprisoned, then returned to their countries, no matter how much peril they may face, as in the case of Haitians, returning hundreds of miles back to their blood-soaked island.

They are also not offered U.S. taxpayer-financed Section 8 housing, welfare, food stamps, financial aid for education, instant work visa, etc., etc., etc.

If THESE benefits were available to the other people in this hemisphere, you can be sure we'd see even far more of them drowning in the ocean coming from Haiti, Dominican Republic, or in the water between the States and Mexico, or perishing in the desert from California to Texas in the HUNDREDS yearly.

Yeah, fleeing their terrifying U.S. supported Presidents, apparently.

[Mika]

30. The Cuban eye care program is called "Operation Miracle"

Lots of stories here .


Cuba has made this offer to many countries around the world.

Many thousands have been treated and cured.


There have been many DU threads on this Cuban program that is ever expanding. Of course, the DU Cubaphobes have nothing good to say about the health care program but instead use the threads as an opportunity to spew their venom and ignorance about Cuba and the good people of Cuba who make this amazing program possible.

[killbotfactory]

32. The Cubans are great on health care issues

I don't care what you think of the politics over there, their healthcare programs are fantastic.

The UN and Harvard agree.
http://www.granma.cu/ingles/2005/abril/mar5/15harvard.html
http://www.paho.org/English/DD/PIN/Number17_article4_4.htm

World Bank Leaders Admit: 'Cuba Has Done a Good Job'
http://www.socialistaction.org/news/200107/cuba.html

more info
http://www.worldmarketsanalysis.com/InFocus2002/articles/americas_Cuba_health.html
http://www.phmovement.org/pha2000/press/press-5dec.html

[Judi Lynn]

33. Great links. Thanks for the helpful information. n/t

[Mika]

36. They also do well in education.

After the 1959 revolution

Net primary enrolment for both girls and boys reached 100% in 1997, up from 92% in 1990. That was as high as most developed nations - higher even than the US rate and well above 80-90% rates achieved by the most advanced Latin American countries.

“Even in education performance, Cuba’s is very much in tune with the developed world, and much higher than schools in, say, Argentina, Brazil, or Chile.”

It is no wonder, in some ways. Public spending on education in Cuba amounts to about 6.7% of gross national income, twice the proportion in other Latin American and Caribbean countries and even Singapore.

There were 12 primary school pupils for every Cuban teacher in 1997, a ratio that ranked with Sweden, rather than any other developing country. The Latin American and East Asian average was twice as high at 25 to one.

The average youth (age 15-24) illiteracy rate in Latin America and the Caribbean stands at 7%. In Cuba, the rate is zero. In Latin America, where the average is 7%, only Uruguay approaches that achievement, with one percent youth illiteracy.

“Cuba managed to reduce illiteracy from 40% to zero within ten years,” said Ritzen. “If Cuba shows that it is possible, it shifts the burden of proof to those who say it’s not possible.”

Similarly, Cuba devoted 9.1% of its gross domestic product (GDP) during the 1990s to health care, roughly equivalent to Canada’s rate. Its ratio of 5.3 doctors per 1,000 people was the highest in the world.

[TheBaldyMan]

40. and they still whup the USA's ass at Boxing and Baseball - Wow! n/t

[happydreams]

50. Health care is one area that does better in a socialist

system. Private interests don't impinge on sound medicine. Cuba is a big threat to the capitalist medical industry with its pure science.

[occuserpens]

34. Thanks for the links!

Update...

2006-01-23 Don't mess with Fidel

[The_Casual_Observer]

39. These kind of things are a true embarrassment to this country.

No two ways about it.

[BreweryYardRat]

41. Not fond of Castro, but that's pretty damn good of him.

We will never, ever, see * do anything like this. Kinda depressing when a leader who's been considered the enemy for decades is willing to make an offer like this while our own government does jack shit.

[Mika]

42. Castro isn't doing the surgery.. its the Cuban Ministry of Health that..

.. made the offers of the treatments. Mr Castro is just the spokesperson for the Ministry's offer.

[Judi Lynn]

43. I've found a moving story about a Jamaican teenager who needs help

Brace yourself if you decide to read the story, as her photo is a bit of a jolt:

A St. James mother is trying to save her daughter's vision. She is making an urgent plea for help to finance an operation to remove a large growth from the child's left eye.

Yvonne Campbell, mother of 15-year-old Lenissa Woolcock, from Lilliput, St. James, told The Gleaner that her daughter was diagnosed with "expansive intraorbitary process" at age four.

Ms. Campbell recalled that when Lenissa began experiencing problems with her eye, she took her to a doctor, who gave her some eye drops. She said that the eye drops relieved the pain and for a long time the eye seemed to be back to normal. However, when Lenissa started grade four in primary school, the problem recurred.

Lenissa, who now attends Anchovy High School in St. James, said her eye does not cause her great discomfort, but pains her sometimes. She said she is, however, comforted by the fact that her schoolmates have not made fun of her misfortune.

Ms. Campbell said that she met Dr. Varina Morejon-Keeling, a Cuban doctor at the Cuban Medical and Wellness Services Limited, who encouraged them to go to Cuba to do the operation that would correct the problem in Lenissa's eye.
(snip/...)

http://www.jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20060125/news/news3.html

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Now for the good news about Lenissa Woolcock:

Hearts pour out to Lenissa
published: Thursday | January 26, 2006

Tashieka Mair, Gleaner Writer


IN RESPONSE to a story published in The Gleaner yesterday about the plight of young Lenissa Woolcock, who has a large tumour on her left eye, many Jamaicans have empathised with her, and seem willing to assist the 15-year-old Anchovy High School student.

Calls have been pouring into Gleaner newsrooms islandwide from people willing to offer assistance. The NCB branches across the island have also received numerous calls from interested parties who wanted information on how to make donations to assist the teen with her urgently needed operation.

ACCOUNT INACTIVE

However, there was an unfortunate snag, as the NCB account number published yesterday is inactive. The bank was not able to immediately reopen the account because of administrative and legal requirements. Contributions can now be made to Scotiabank account number 907013 at the Montego Bay branch.

There have been positive responses from corporate Jamaica, which has also thrown its support behind Lenissa. Diana Blake-Bennett, Marketing Manager of Restaurant Associates Limited, has also expressed an interest in the matter and has promised to make a donation. Another interested company is Solution Integrators in the Corporate Area. Air Jamaica has also confirmed it will provide tickets for Lenissa and her mother to make the trip overseas.
(snip/...)

http://www.jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20060126/lead/lead4.html

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It looks as if this young lady's long, long lonely trial may be close to finding a turn for the much better.

[Mika]

44. Thank goodness for Cuba!

What a horror for this young woman. :(

Thank goodness that there are angels like the good people of Cuba and Cuba's doctors to help the poor of the Caribbean.



Viva Cuba!

[Lone_Star_Dem]

45. I'm just waiting until they offer dental

That's the selling point for me.

Cuban doctors have been doing great works around the world for quite some time now. Say what you will about Cuba's politics but they do offer medical outreach programs to many who are in need.

[Mika]

46. Dental treatments require super expensive materials & systems.

So its not just surgical expertise and time. Plus, most of the newer materials/systems are patented in, and by companies that do biz in, the US.

[Lone_Star_Dem]

47. That was a joke

As in if they (employer) only offered dental I'd change jobs.

:)