Cuban Public Health System and "Quality"

Cuban Public Health System and "Quality" / Anddy Sierra Alvarez
Anddy Sierra Alvarez, Translator: mlk

"There is no greater honor than to be the guardian of public health."
Fidel Castro

Cuba boasts of its public health system, and its hospitals are
overflowing with cases of viral dengue fever. This outbreak is caused by
this country's poor performance in supplying water to homes, especially
in the capital province.

The township Arroyo Naranjo was one of the most affected by dengue in
2012, after which the measure was taken to suspend the water supply
every other day (one day on, one day off).

According to the official version, the supply of water to this area was
every four days, because four motors were broken out of six total and
the measure taken would prevent the remaining two working motors from
breaking down because of overload.

More than seven months passed, and the problem with the water supply
continued, the desperate citizens began to store water in pots, tanks,
etc. With passing days, this accumulated water prepared the conditions
for the Dengue-carrying mosquito larvae, creating a considerable
hatchery in each home.

The sprayings and the groups fighting the mosquitoes were diminishing
with each passing month, the visits to the homes and the sprayings were
increasingly rare. Then the cases of dengue began on a grand scale.

The "Covadonga" hospital located in the capital township "Cerro" like
the "Julio Trigo" and the "Enrique Cabrera" (National Hospital) were
overrun with cases of dengue, but none was hemorrhagic.

Then! The government decided to announce that the water would be on
every other day for this township, like it had before. It all happened
because the government had no interest in fixing the motors so that the
citizens could have safe water.

Only Cuban problems are solved after there is a big, harmful event among
the people. The government's system has shown this throughout these 53
years of "REVOLUTION."

Translated by mlk.

September 10 2012

http://translatingcuba.com/cuban-public-health-system-and-quality-anddy-sierra-alvarez/