Published on Saturday, January 16, 2010
HAVANA, Cuba (Reuters) -- Twenty-four patients in Havana's main mental
hospital died of hypothermia this week, a Cuban human rights group said
on Thursday, in what it called an act of negligence.
Elizardo Sanchez, president of the Cuban Human Rights and National
Reconciliation Commission. AFP PHOTO
Elizardo Sanchez, spokesman for the independent Cuban Commission on
Human Rights, said the patients were not properly protected from
temperatures that dipped into the low 40s (about 5 or 6 Celsius) during
an unusual, extended cold snap on the tropical island.
"The people were not covered up and many windows and doors at the
hospital are broken, so they were not protected," he told Reuters. "Many
of these patients are incapacitated and they cannot care for themselves."
He called the deaths "unprecedented" in Cuba and accused the Cuban
government of "criminal negligence."
Sanchez, a frequent critic of the Cuban government, said there were
"growing signs of deterioration in the national health system,"
including run-down facilities and shortages of medicines.
A spokesman for the government said he had not heard of the report, but
that it sounded unlikely, given the "high quality of the hospital and
the source of the information."
He said it was not unusual for people to die in hospitals and it was
more likely the patients died of other causes.
Cuba provides free universal health care for its citizens and prides
itself on having a strong system, despite its economic problems.
Cubans complain that some facilities are not in good condition, but the
Cuban government says many of its problems arise from its inability to
get medical equipment and medicines due to the longstanding US trade
embargo against the Communist-led island.
Caribbean Net News: Group says cold weather killed 24 in Cuba hospital
(16 January 2010)
http://www.caribbeannetnews.com/article.php?news_id=20907
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