Cuba Not Ready for Prime Time?
Professor Milica Bookman, author of Medical Tourism in Developing Countries, has reportedly backtracked on whether Cuba is ready to step to the forefront of countries that offer low-cost, high quality medical care to international patients, after a visit to Havana.
I say “reportedly” because I haven’t talked to Milica myself, though we are email acquaintances; and I do not know in any detail to what extent she thought Cuba was on the brink of becoming a major player in the medical travel industry, nor can I tell, from this very short article in the Miami Herald, to what extent she thinks Cuba is unready.
From where I sit, this is the story on Cuba and medical tourism. Keep in mind that I have not been there, but I’ve had a lot of conversations about this with people from around the world.
Cuba unquestionably has world-class doctors and surgeons and some facilities that can provide first, rate, “first world health and medical care. That part of the movie “Sicko” was not a lie, whatever one thinks of Michael Moore. However, hospitals and clinics, as Milica apparently saw firsthand, are not exactly shiny and new; some of the most modern equipment is unavailable or in short supply; they may also be behind the curve in pharmaceuticals.
Yet I have met and corresponded with people who, anecdotally, have been extremely happy with their medical treatment in Cuba — a few Canadians and a native Puerto Rican. Nonetheless, Cuba rated a mention in Beauty from Afar only for its potential as a medical travel destination, not for the current reality.
Cuba’s medical infrastructure isn’t ready to be productized and marketed the way Costa Rica’s has; or Thailand’s, or India’s, or Mexico’s, or Portugal’s (Et cetera, and not necessarily in that order.) It is difficult and, under many circumstances, actually illegal for United States citizens to even visit Cuba.
Cuba *could* someday, again, be an important trade partner of the United States and *could* become a major medical travel destination, particularly for Cuban Americans living in Florida. But it’s not going to happen unless or until the U.S. and Cuba can agree on some much more fundamental issues.
jss @ January 11, 2008
