The much praised Cuban health system

One of the great lies on the political Left is that Cuba was a miracle and socialism made life better for the Cubans. But as Johan Norberg said about Sweden: “How do you make a rich country? Start out with a very rich country.” Sweden was well ahead of the rest of Europe before it went into the big welfare state and it has been dropping ever since. Cuba was a relatively well off nation when Castro took power. And it’s been downhill since.

But the real lie the Left loves to tell is how wonderful health care is in Cuba. The African National Congress even brought in Cubans to train their own “health professionals” which may be one reason South African hospitals have been in a spiral downwards. Here are a few photos from Cuban health care facilities.


Here is a photo of Hospital Nacional in Havana. A real dump.


And inside!


Here is the restroom in the emergency ward of another Havana hospital.


And the floor.

Of course it’s the boycott of the US. So the Left argues that free trade impoverishes the Third World but the lack of free trade is the reason Cuba has no resources. Ah, but they do have resources! They just use them on elite foreigners who come to their La Pradera International Health Center. Here are a few pictures of what the foreign health tourists get when they pay in hard dollars. (A very socialist enterprise no doubt!)






In fact they even produce medical equipment for export where they again get hard currency. They just don’t use the equipment for the benefit of the people. If you don’t believe they manufacture this equipment try this web site from Cuba to see for yourself.