20533: Racine: From Racine125@aol.com - Cuban Doctors, continued... (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Racine125@aol.com

Hello Corbetteers, from beautiful Jacmel, where an enterprising soul has finally hooked up a generator to a few computers, so now we have Internet service, HOORAY!

Kathleen <kathleenmb@adelphia.net> wrote:

<<I am terrified at the idea that U.S. policy might militate against the Cuban doctors who save the poor of Haiti (and the middle classes as well).  Does anyone know anything?>>

I know one thing, Kathleen - the presence of the Cuban medical mission here in Jacmel has been lifesaving, and the Cuban doctors are quite simply adored here!  I thank God for their presence.  I live a very active life, I ride horseback, I swim regularly, and it's nice to know that if I get a broken clavicle or a bump on the ol' nogginus as my horse tries to scrape me off on an overhanging branch, they are there to save me if I am saveable.  Their presence is a definite factor in my decision whether to live here or in the USA.

Furthermore, and what a lot of people seem to overlook, the Cuban medical mission also includes veterinarians, who are accomplishing a two-fold program.  First and most obviously, they provide veterinary care to farm animals on a regular basis.  Simply on humanitarian grounds, the amount of suffering they relieve among the four-legged nations justifies their presence!  They also have a significant economic impact, since lower animal mortality means higher profits for animal keepers.

My goats, horses, cows and pig were all vaccinated, regularly wormed and deparasitized, by the Cuban veterinarian.  He also took care of injuries, barbed wire cuts, things like that, and safely castrated my bull calves and my stallion horse.  He went home before the most recent coup because he was ill, and now that he is gone it's a struggle, I tell you, to give my animals the same level of care.

The second part of the Cuban veterinary program involved original veterinary research on tropical diseases.  They have, as far as I understand, identified new species of parasites and blood-born illnesses which affect animals and also people, according to the Cuban medical doctors.  The Cuban veterinarian who was here in Jacmel always took stool samples and blood samples from my animals, and also samples of any external parasites such as ticks.

I suppose with life here being what it is, a gradual downward spiral, soon we will have no Cuban doctors.  The veterinarian here who I used to call on before the Cuban doctors came is useless, he is afraid of large animals.  You know what he does?  If you need to give your cow an injection, he waits while you tie it up, fills up the syringe, and then hands it to you and says, "Here you go!"  Then he gives you a bill.

There are a few reasonably decent doctors in Jacmel, including Dr. Michel Tozin who in my humble opinion is an excellent diagnostician.  But with Haitian doctors, even if they know what to do, most of them aren't rushing to come to your aid!  You better show money up front, and be prepared for some mighty paternalistic and judgemental care.

Haitian doctors usually do not tell the patient the name of their disease, they merely conduct their examination, order tests and prescribe medication.  Horror stories abound - I know one man who broke a finger, smashed it really, in the "bat bwa" (beat wood) mock stick-fights during Rara season.  He went to a doctor with his finger squashed flat, lacerated, and bleeding.  The doctor, a Protestant, declared that he would make his patient "sispan frekan, sispan ale nan Rara", that is, "stop being fresh and stop going to Rara".  He then dipped his patient's finger into a glassful of rubbing alcohol!  As his patient rolled on the floor wailing in agony, he laughed.

Another doctor, to whom I sent one of my woman friends for a series of tests, discovered she was HIV+.  The doctor said to her very accusingly, "Ou kouche avek yon neg ki bay ou SIDA!", "You laid down with a man who gave you AIDS!"

There are stories upon stories, insufficient anaesthesia in the operating room, a woman left to die in her hospital bed because she could not find anyone to go to the pharmacy and buy for her a ten dollar "sound" of some sort, to open an intestinal blockage.

I am happy to say that there is one reasonably well-prepared, well-equipped and professional dentist in Jacmel, Dr. Jacques Denis.  He has modern training and a modicum of equipment, and a very good attitude.

If the Haitian medical school would make a "great leap forward" and start graduating doctors with modern training and a modern outlook, it would be wonderful.  In Port-au-Prince of course those who can afford private care will always find it.  But for the poor (and middle class, as Kathleen rightly points out), the Cuban doctors are the best quality alternative for the lowest cost.

Well, let's see what happens.

Peace and love,

Bon Mambo Racine Sans Bout Sa Te La Daginen

"Se bon ki ra" - Good is rare
     Haitian Proverb

The VODOU Page - http://members.aol.com/racine125/index.html

Vodou Aid - http://www.RootsWithoutEnd.com/vodouaid.html

The Vodou Emporium - http://www.RootsWithoutEnd.com/emporium/emporium.html

(Posting from Jacmel, Haiti)