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Remarks
by Dr. Fidel Castro Ruz, President of the
Republic
of
Cuba,
meeting with the medical doctors assembled to offer assistance to
the American people in areas affected by hurricane Katrina.
Havana
Convention
Center,
September
4, 2005
Dear
members of the medical force assembled to offer assistance to
those affected by hurricane Katrina in the South of the
United States
;
Distinguished
guests;
Fellow
Cubans:
Hardly
48 hours ago I concluded my remarks on the Round Table broadcast
where I once again explicitly offered the United States to send a
medical force with the necessary means to offer emergency
assistance to the tens of thousands of Americans trapped in the
flooded areas and the ruins Katrina left behind after lashing
Louisiana and other southern states.
It
was clear to us that those who faced the greatest danger were
these huge numbers of poor, desperate people, many elderly
citizens with health situations, pregnant women, mothers and
children among them, all in urgent need of medical care.
In
such a situation, regardless of how rich a country may be, the
number of scientists it has or how great its technical
breakthroughs have been, what it needs are young, well-trained and
experienced professionals, who have done medical work in anomalous
circumstances, and that, with a minimum of resources, can be
immediately transported by air or any other available means to
specific facilities or sites where the lives of human beings are
in danger.
Cuba
, a short distance
away from
Louisiana
,
Mississippi
and
Alabama
, was in a position
to offer assistance to the American people. At that moment, the
billions of dollars the
United States
could receive from
countries all over the world would not have saved a single life in
New Orleans
and other critical
areas where people were in mortal danger.
Cuba
would be completely
powerless to help the crew of a spaceship or a nuclear submarine
in distress, but it could offer the victims of hurricane Katrina,
facing imminent death, substantial and crucial assistance. And
this is what it’s been doing since Tuesday, August 30, at
12:45 pm
, when the winds and
downpours had barely ceased. We don’t regret it in the least,
even if
Cuba
was not mentioned
in the long list of countries that offered their solidarity to the
US
people.
Knowing
that I could rely on men and women like you, I took the liberty of
reiterating our offer three days later, promising that in less
than 12 hours the first 100 doctors, carrying the necessary
medical resources in their backpacks, could be in Houston; that an
additional 500 could be there 10 hours later and that, within the
next 36 hours, 500 more, for a total of 1100, could join them to
save at least one of the many lives at risk from such dramatic
events.
Perhaps
those unaware of our people’s sense of honor and spirit of
solidarity thought this was some kind of bluff or a ridiculous
exaggeration. But our country never toys with matters as serious
as this, and it has never dishonored itself with demagogy or
deceit. That is why we proudly gather in this hall, at
Havana
’s Convention
Center where only three days ago we observed a minute of silence
for the victims of the hurricane which battered the
United States
, and from where our
heartfelt condolences were extended to that brotherly people.
Here
we are, and not 1100 but 1586 doctors, including 300 additional
doctors, in response to the increasingly alarming news that keep
coming in. In fact, another 300 doctors, approximately, have
joined this group at the last minute. They were called in and we’ve
already announced that we are willing to send thousands more if it
were necessary. But these 300 doctors are in other halls of the
Convention Center, taking part in this function. In just 24 hours,
all of the doctors summoned to carry out this mission, coming from
all parts of the country, met in the capital. We have shown the
utmost punctuality and precision.
You
bring honor to the noble medical profession. With your quick,
unwavering response to the call of duty and your willingness to
work in unchartered and difficult conditions, you are writing a
new page in the history of solidarity among the peoples and are
showing a course of peace to the suffering and imperiled human
species to which we all belong.
This
medical force, I mean the 1586 initially mentioned, includes:
-
1097
specialists in Comprehensive General Medicine, 600 of whom are
pursuing Masters degrees in Medical Sciences;
-
351
general practitioners and intensive care specialists;
-
72
healthcare professionals with two medical specialties, and
-
66
specialists in cardiology, pediatrics, gastroenterology,
surgery, psychiatry, epidemiology and other specialties.
Of
this medical force:
-
699
doctors have served in one or more international missions in
43 different countries, and some have even served in three
missions, and
-
727
were ready and about to leave
Cuba
to serve in
missions in
Latin America
,
Africa
and
Asia
; they joined
this force in view of the dramatic situation unfolding in the
southern
United States
, while other
similar professionals will meet our internationalist
commitment in other countries.
The
average age of these health professionals is 32 years. Most of
them had not yet been born when the revolution triumphed and some
had not even been born 15 years after the triumph of the
revolution, they are the product of these hard years. The average
work experience is of no less than 10 years. Some have more
experience, some less, most have more experience.
Of
the total force, 729 are men and 857 are women.
The
precarious sanitary conditions and dangers left in the United
States by hurricane Katrina are powerfully described by
international press agencies and the US press:
The
EFE agency reports that in the
Houston
’s stadium, in
Texas
, presently
sheltering more than 15 thousand people evacuated from
New Orleans
, hardly three
thousand have received medical care. Highly infectious diseases
have been reported there while outbreaks of diarrhea and vomiting
threaten to quickly spread due to overcrowding.
Yesterday’s
edition of the Washington Post reports that, at the moment,
Mississippi
’s chief needs are
fuel and medical assistance.
An
AP press dispatch reports that two of the most severely affected
hospitals in
New Orleans
were evacuated
after its desperate doctors spent two days making the difficult
decision of which patients should receive the scarce supplies of
food, water and medicine. Three terminally-ill patients died
during the evacuation and the number of patients who perished
before assistance finally arrived could not be determined. Several
hospital employees administered themselves intravenous saline
solutions while waiting to be rescued.
Fox
News network emphasized yesterday that
New Orleans
health
professionals are working around the clock, without rest, to treat
patients in critical condition and to prevent a catastrophe in the
already overcrowded medical facilities. These health professionals
have been working without rest and their strength is running out;
something must be done urgently.
Yesterday,
a Louisiana Health and Hospitals Department spokesperson, Kyle
Viator, declared that “we have patients in dialysis, others with
diabetes, people who require regular treatment and prescription
drugs. Our resources are running out. At the moment, one third of
the population is displaced, and this group of people includes our
medical personnel”.
An
article published in the Spanish newspaper El Mundo gathers the
dramatic accounts of Nina Ferguson, a 46-year-old African American
resident of New Orleans, who claims she could not suppress a
feeling of nausea on getting off a military truck which took her
to Houston, adding: “Seeing this, I’d rather stayed at the
Convention Center where I saw dehydrated babies and several old
people die without anyone looking after them”.
Another
New Orleans
resident, Rosanne
Asuen, who suffers from diabetes and obesity, had to be reanimated
by a volunteer nurse who was as desperate to get out of there as
she was.
Evelyn
Sander, a 23 years old mother, told the press how she wiped the
sweat off Issaiah, her one-month-old baby’s forehead, with
symptoms of dehydration and flies all over him.
The
United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF)
in a communiqué made public yesterday, Saturday, expressed its
concern over the situation of children in the affected areas.
According to UNICEF, one third to one fourth of the one million
two hundred thousand people left helpless in
Louisiana
,
Mississippi
and
Alabama
are children.
A
spokesperson for the Center for Disease Control (CDC)
headquartered in Atlanta told EFE that the stagnant waters create
the ideal conditions for the spread of the Nile virus and for
outbreaks of hepatitis A and E. Coli bacteria, a potentially
deadly pathogen which can cause diarrhea and kidney failure, among
other complications.
An
AFP cable dated in Houston yesterday reports that Texas offered to
take in the thousands of people who had been displaced, but that
hotels in Houston begin to experience water shortages and that the
ill must wait long to receive medical care. Steven Glonsky, a
doctor with the
Methodist
Hospital
in the city, who
spent thirteen hours attending to dehydrated and traumatized
survivors who suffer from chronic illness such as diabetes and
hypertension, stated that this is an unprecedented crisis in
US
history.
US
Senate republican leader Bill Frist, presently in New Orleans,
admitted that “doctors and nurses are doing a great job, but the
distribution of medical assistance continues to be a serious
problem” and “scores of people die every day”.
According
to the Boston Globe,
Louisiana
and
Mississippi
are facing the
worst public health care disaster the nation has known in decades.
The
newspaper published declarations from Dr. Marshall Bouldin,
Director for Diabetes and Metabolism at the University’s Medical
Center in Jackson, Mississippi, who assistance: “We’re seeing
things that we haven’t seen in many years: cholera, typhoid
fever, tetanus, malaria. We hadn’t seen such conditions in 50
years. People are crammed together and wander around surrounded by
excrement”.
There
is an endless list of health problems reported by virtually all
the press and the specialized health care institutions.
Our
doctors’ backpacks contain precisely those resources needed to
address in the field problems relating to dehydration, high blood
pressure, diabetes Mellitus and infections in all parts of the
body —lungs, bones, skin, ears, urinary tract, reproductive
system— as they arise. They also carry medicine to suppress
vomiting; painkillers and drugs to lower fever; medication for the
immediate treatment of heart conditions, for allergies of any kind;
for treating bronchial asthma and other similar complications,
about forty products of proven efficiency in emergencies such as
this one.
These
professionals carry two backpacks containing these products; each
backpack weighs 12 kilograms. Actually, this was determined when
all of the backpacks were procured, since although they are quite
large, only half of the supplies would fit in; it was then
necessary to give each doctor two backpacks, and the small
briefcase which carries diagnostic kits. These doctors have much
clinical experience, this is one of their most outstanding
characteristic, as they are used to offering their services in
places where there isn’t even one X-ray machine, ultrasound
equipment or instruments for analyzing fecal samples, blood, etc.
With the increase in the number of doctors, the medications weigh
a total of 36 tons. The initial figure was smaller.
Cuba
has the moral
authority to express its opinion on this matter and to make this
offer. Today, it is the country with the highest number of doctors
per capita in the world, and no other country cooperates with
other nations in the field of healthcare as extensively as it does.
Of
over 130 thousand healthcare professionals with a university
education, 25,845 today serve in international missions in 66
different countries. They offer medical services to 85,154,748
people; 34,700,000 in
Latin America
and the
Caribbean
and 50,400,000 in
Africa
and
Asia
. Of these, 17,651
are doctors, 3,069 are dentists and 3,117 are healthcare
technicians who work in optic services and other areas.
Today,
more than 12 thousand young people from around the world, chiefly
from
Latin America
and the
Caribbean
, are studying
medicine in
Cuba
completely free of
charge, and their numbers will continue to grow rapidly. Scores of
young people from the
United States
study in the Latin
American School of Medicine, whose doors have been opened, since
the institution’s inception, to students from that country.
Today,
I received a moving letter from graduates from that Center, which
reads:
“Your
Excellency Commander Fidel Castro Ruz;
“Dear
Commander in Chief:
“We
have followed the horrific events that have unfolded in New
Orleans resulting from the devastation caused by hurricane Katrina
and listened to your statement on the afternoon Round Table
program and we, Hondurans and other graduates from the Latin
American School of Medicine (ELAM), are moved by the situation our
brothers in the United States are enduring. Thus, as victims of a
natural disaster (hurricane Mitch) ourselves, we want to express
our solidarity with the American people at this tragic hour and
join the doctors you
have offered to send to this sister nation in response to this
critical situation. You can be confident that we are ‘doctors
willing to go where we are most needed’.
“We
walk down the path you dream of.
“With
infinite love and eternal gratitude,
“The
first graduates from
ELAM
”.
This
letter is signed by 85 young, recent graduates from the Latin
American School of Medicine, who tell us the signatures and names
are those of comrades currently in Havana, and that there are more
comrades willing to join the mission but who are overseas on
vacation.
When
our first war of independence broke out in
1868, a
group of Americans
joined the ranks of
Cuba
’s independence
forces. One of them, a very young man, stood out for his
exceptional courage and wrote pages of admirable heroism in
Cuba
’s history. It was
Henry Reeve. His unforgettable name is forever etched in the heart
of our people, and next to that of Lincoln and other illustrious
Americans it is carved on the pillars of the Plaza built in the
days of the struggle for the return of little Elián González,
when the noble people of the United States played a decisive role
so that justice would finally be done.
Henry
Reeve, almost crippled by the wounds sustained in the course of 7
years of war, fell in combat on
August 4, 1876
, near Yaguaramas,
today the
province
of
Cienfuegos
.
I
propose that this force of Cuban doctors who have volunteered to
help save the lives of Americans bear the glorious name of
“Henry Reeve”.
These
doctors, I mean you, could already be there, offering their
services. 48 hours have passed and we have not received any
response to our reiterated offer. We shall patiently await a reply,
for as many days as necessary. In the meantime, our doctors shall
use the time to take intensive epidemiology courses and improving
their English. If, ultimately, we do not receive any reply or our
cooperation —your cooperation— is not needed, we shall not be
demoralized, not you, not us, not any Cuban. On the contrary, we
shall feel satisfied for having complied with our duty and
extremely happy knowing that no other American, of the many that
suffered the painful and perfidious scourge of hurricane Katrina,
shall perish from lack of medical care, if that were the reason
our doctors were not
there.
The
“Henry Reeve” Brigade has been created, and whatever tasks you
undertake in any part of the world or our own homeland, you shall
always bear the glorious distinction of having responded to the
call to assistance our brothers and sisters in the United States,
and that nation’s humblest children especially, with courage and
dignity.
Let’s
go forward, generous defenders of health and of life, winners over
pain and death itself!
Thank
you.
September/2005
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