Cuba: But we have the best health care in the region!

HAVANA, June 24 (Moisés Leonardo Rodríguez, Grupo Decoro / www.cubanet.org) - Residents of Madruga say they are disgusted by the insufficient level of medical services offered the population lately by the local polyclinic.

Among the reasons for the lack of services that previously were widely available they cite the scarcity of resources and the wholesale shipment of doctors and other medical personnel to Venezuela and several other countries. Even the doctors left behind are overworked as a result of the government's policy.

As a specific example, residents say the polyclinic in Madruga has not rendered optometry services for about two months now, allegedly because their equipment is broken. The problem has been a constant off and on for most of the last year.

During the last year, residents say they were able to make do in neighboring Güines, but that option is no longer viable because the technician there was mobilized for military service.