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Cuban Doctors Revolt: ‘You Get Tired of Being a Slave’

nytimes.com

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Re: Cuban Doctors Revolt: ‘You Get Tired of Being a Slave’

#11

Post by influx »

frgtpsswrdlame wrote: post #4

You know I can't really feel their plight. Take this: >Hundreds of miles away, in Minas Gerais State, Dr. Jiménez, 34, found the work rewarding, but also began to harbor feelings of resentment. “You are trained in Cuba and our education is free, health care is free, but at what price?” she said. “You wind up paying for it your whole life.” Is that not the point? The communist government allows anybody to attend their…

And yet those Cuban doctors would give up their entire way of life, access to family members and the country they grew up in to move to the evil capitalist United States.

Weird.

Re: Cuban Doctors Revolt: ‘You Get Tired of Being a Slave’

#12

Post by smt88 »

jwilliams wrote: post #5

In Cuba often tourist dollars greatly outstrip the local economy. So you're ending up with a situation where qualified doctors are moving in to tourism - waiters, doormen - to earn more money.

Where did you learn about this? I'd like to investigate in more detail.

Re: Cuban Doctors Revolt: ‘You Get Tired of Being a Slave’

#13

Post by phd514 »

frgtpsswrdlame wrote: post #4

You know I can't really feel their plight. Take this: >Hundreds of miles away, in Minas Gerais State, Dr. Jiménez, 34, found the work rewarding, but also began to harbor feelings of resentment. “You are trained in Cuba and our education is free, health care is free, but at what price?” she said. “You wind up paying for it your whole life.” Is that not the point? The communist government allows anybody to attend their…

Where to start? They don't allow anyone to attend medical school in Cuba. They accept a certain number of foreign students based on some standard of financial need. As for Cuban medical students, they're stuck as practitioners in the Cuban medical system which isn't a particularly great success from the perspective of financial reward. Certainly there are many problems with the US system of medical training and treatment, but at least it's still a financially rewarding occupation in the US.

Re: Cuban Doctors Revolt: ‘You Get Tired of Being a Slave’

#14

Post by jerkstate »

frgtpsswrdlame wrote: post #4

You know I can't really feel their plight. Take this: >Hundreds of miles away, in Minas Gerais State, Dr. Jiménez, 34, found the work rewarding, but also began to harbor feelings of resentment. “You are trained in Cuba and our education is free, health care is free, but at what price?” she said. “You wind up paying for it your whole life.” Is that not the point? The communist government allows anybody to attend their…

I think you hit the nail on the head there. In non-communist countries, it is possible to pay off your education debt, and profit from your hard work thereafter. In Cuba, it isn't.

Re: Cuban Doctors Revolt: ‘You Get Tired of Being a Slave’

#15

Post by frgtpsswrdlame »

influx wrote: post #11
frgtpsswrdlame wrote: post #4

You know I can't really feel their plight. Take this: >Hundreds of miles away, in Minas Gerais State, Dr. Jiménez, 34, found the work rewarding, but also began to harbor feelings of resentment. “You are trained in Cuba and our education is free, health care is free, but at what price?” she said. “You wind up paying for it your whole life.” Is that not the point? The communist government allows anybody to attend their…

And yet those Cuban doctors would give up their entire way of life, access to family members and the country they grew up in to move to the evil capitalist United States. Weird.

Weird how they do it after they became doctors and not before.

Re: Cuban Doctors Revolt: ‘You Get Tired of Being a Slave’

#16

Post by candiodari »

frgtpsswrdlame wrote: post #4

You know I can't really feel their plight. Take this: >Hundreds of miles away, in Minas Gerais State, Dr. Jiménez, 34, found the work rewarding, but also began to harbor feelings of resentment. “You are trained in Cuba and our education is free, health care is free, but at what price?” she said. “You wind up paying for it your whole life.” Is that not the point? The communist government allows anybody to attend their…

Perhaps some amount of repayment for education is reasonable, but not this amount.

How many American doctors are paying >75% of their AFTER TAX income to pay down those debts ?

None.

How many Cuban doctors agreed to the arrangement of being restricted to a country controlled by the Cuban government, and therefore only offered a pittance for their services ?

None. They were born there.

What would happen if a bank offered such a deal to a US citizen ?

They would be persecuted, as this falls under "usury" and is a crime. Note: it's a crime. As in, if a bank does this and gets convicted (which happens regularly) people WILL go to jail for doing this.

What would happen if I did the same, organising a job for you in a foreign country and in return I get 75% of your wages in a contract that couldn't be broken ?

You could go to a judge and get the contract annulled, as this clearly violates labor laws. The article seems to confirm that this indeed violates even Brazilian labor laws.

Re: Cuban Doctors Revolt: ‘You Get Tired of Being a Slave’

#17

Post by Angostura »

frgtpsswrdlame wrote: post #4

You know I can't really feel their plight. Take this: >Hundreds of miles away, in Minas Gerais State, Dr. Jiménez, 34, found the work rewarding, but also began to harbor feelings of resentment. “You are trained in Cuba and our education is free, health care is free, but at what price?” she said. “You wind up paying for it your whole life.” Is that not the point? The communist government allows anybody to attend their…

I think the point is probably this:

> But the doctors get a small cut of that money,

If the Cuban government were taking something like 10%-20% of salaray, you could see how that would wash. I presume they are taking much more

Re: Cuban Doctors Revolt: ‘You Get Tired of Being a Slave’

#18

Post by mratzloff »

frgtpsswrdlame wrote: post #4

You know I can't really feel their plight. Take this: >Hundreds of miles away, in Minas Gerais State, Dr. Jiménez, 34, found the work rewarding, but also began to harbor feelings of resentment. “You are trained in Cuba and our education is free, health care is free, but at what price?” she said. “You wind up paying for it your whole life.” Is that not the point? The communist government allows anybody to attend their…

I'm sure American doctors would pay down their debt quite quickly if they lived like a Cuban doctor and nearly their entire paycheck went to school loans.

Ultimately, if you think it's such a good deal, I'm sure Cuba would let you defect and go to medical school for the opportunity to earn $30/month like she does in Cuba.

Re: Cuban Doctors Revolt: ‘You Get Tired of Being a Slave’

#19

Post by Klockan »

> The pastor was outraged to learn that, under the terms of their employment, Cuban doctors earn only about a quarter of the amount the Brazilian government pays Cuba for their services.

This is how Sweden finances their free education as well, it is called taxes. The problem isn't with how Cuba treats specifically doctors but how Cuba refuses to let people emigrate in general.

Re: Cuban Doctors Revolt: ‘You Get Tired of Being a Slave’

#20

Post by davidw »

jerkstate wrote: post #14
frgtpsswrdlame wrote: post #4

You know I can't really feel their plight. Take this: >Hundreds of miles away, in Minas Gerais State, Dr. Jiménez, 34, found the work rewarding, but also began to harbor feelings of resentment. “You are trained in Cuba and our education is free, health care is free, but at what price?” she said. “You wind up paying for it your whole life.” Is that not the point? The communist government allows anybody to attend their…

I think you hit the nail on the head there. In non-communist countries, it is possible to pay off your education debt, and profit from your hard work thereafter. In Cuba, it isn't.

This is true even under single payer systems like Italy. Via my wife, I know the GP in the small town where she lived, and he has a place in the mountains, a boat in the laguna, and regularly takes nice vacations around the world. He's doing pretty well, in other words, and I don't think most people begrudge doctors some financial rewards for what they do.
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