Speaking of Costs

Speaking of Costs / Fernando Dámaso
Fernando Dámaso, Translator: Unstated

Faced with the inability to publish news of real and palpable economic
successes, which have been notable for their absence over the years, the
official press waves the two threadbare banners of Cuban
socialism—education and health.

The first has been in prolonged crisis. With its "emerging" teachers
trained through accelerated and intensive courses, its decaying
facilities and its politicized study programs, Cuban education amounts
to a real headache for both students and their parents, who must augment
this training by hiring private tutors if they want their children to
gain the knowledge necessary to pass their exams.

The second, which is the primary subject of this post, is also in
crisis. For several days on page 2 of the newspaper Granma there has
been a chart with the evocative title, "Your Health Service is Free, But
How Much Does It Cost?" It details the costs of certain services and
their corresponding level of care.

Even if we assume that these costs have been correctly calculated, the
claim that these services are free is false. For fifty years they have
been paid for with the money that Cubans have not received, and still do
not receive, due to poverty-level wages. (The average monthly salary is
no more than twenty dollars.)

Although every citizen is paid a salary that corresponds to the work he
or she performs, not everyone is sick, gets sick regularly, or makes use
of these services. In reality these services are used by only one
percent of the population. As if that were not enough, the majority of
the facilities where they are offered are badly deteriorated, lack
water, are unhygienic – including those that were recently but badly
repaired – and have limited resources and medications.

If there is anything to be thankful for, it is the treatment provided by
the doctors, nurses and other auxiliary personnel. While they too are
paid poverty-level wages, they make efforts to provide quality care to
their patients, even when they know that the medications that they
prescribe are in short supply, or are impossible to acquire through
badly stocked pharmacies.

If we are talking about costs, why discuss only certain services? The
official press does not decide to publish anything on a whim; there is
always some motive behind everything that is published. This often
repeated method has become well known.

Perhaps it might be convenient to publish a chart that reflected other
costs. It could be called, "How Much Has and Does the Government Cost
the Cuban People?"

August 10 2012

http://translatingcuba.com/speaking-of-costs-fernando-dmaso/