Saiks:

Yes, albeit with its shortcomings, the Cuban model needs to be emulated by
the U.S, France, UK and other Western nations. Instead, they are bent on
crumbling the effort put in by Fidel as in Bush's August 7 announcement of
an initiative to help Cuban Doctors defect to the U.S. You wonder if that
move will harm Cuba more than the beneficiaries of the "Medical
Diplomacy."

I think the author has done a great job of highlighting the intricacies of
the program from both perspectives - Cuba and recipient nations like
Gambia. While Cuba is gaining political and moral capital out of the deal,
the Doctors themselves apparently earn more than what they would have in
Cuba; the receiving countries on the other hand will reap the benefits of
improved access to medical expertise provided reciprocal effort by
receiving government is forthcoming.

In Gambia's case, I believe there is deficiency in making full use of the
Cuban program. So far, it has not resulted in much improvement in infant
mortality rate or life expectancy in Gambia – the two major indicators of
improved healthcare encompassing other economic and social dispositions.

The Health Secretariat or National Health Institute (is that what we have
in Gambia?) need to ensure the professional integrity of these “Medical
Diplomats” is ascertained to ensure safeguard against medical malpractice
in rural Gambia. I am quite certain there is a handful occurrence of
medical errors that have gone un-noticed simply because there is virtually
no regulatory mechanism to prevent such incidents.

The high rate of HIV infections, Malaria, Diabetes and TB incidents in the
country is a clear indication of the colossal failures in the Health and
other social responsibilities of the Jammeh regime.

Thanks for the input.


-- 
-BambaLaye
==============================================
"Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter."
-Martin Luther King Jr.

¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤
To unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L Web interface
at: http://listserv.icors.org/archives/gambia-l.html

To Search in the Gambia-L archives, go to: http://listserv.icors.org/SCRIPTS/WA-ICORS.EXE?S1=gambia-l
To contact the List Management, please send an e-mail to:
[log in to unmask]
¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤