I am posting this article from the South China Morning Post (Monday, August 21, 2006) about a Cuban medical team in Indonesia as I think it points to a quality of social cooperation or assistance among countries that is quite remarkable. It is a contrast with the nature of cooperation/assistance from Australia to Indonesia.
+++++
Cuba proves size doesn't matter on the world aid front
When a quake hit Java in May, Havana was quick to lend a humanitarian
hand - as it often does, writes Tom Fawthrop
More than two months after the earthquake that killed almost 6,000
people on Java, much of the world's international relief effort has
wound down. An army of medics from countries including Italy, Japan,
Poland and Pakistan have long returned home.
But among the ruins of 100,000 homes, a team of doctors from one small
Caribbean country is labouring to support the estimated 650,000 people
affected by the quake in May.
They are members of the Gantiwarno Cuban field hospital and they
represent the human face of a vast commitment the tiny communist
island has made to the humanitarian effort in the wake of many of the
world's disasters.
In Java, this most recent medical deployment is the last hope for many
Indonesians who have basic access to the scant primary heath-care
services. The medical village of tarpaulin tents represents a fully
equipped field hospital with X-ray, laboratory analysis and surgery
and other essential facilities.
Despite hailing from a poor, politically isolated country, most of the
Cuban medical team has had experience in Asia - two Cuban teams were
deployed to help tsunami victims, one in Aceh and the other in Sri
Lanka.
Many of the doctors now in Indonesia were deployed in Pakistan Kashmir
after the earthquake in October last year. The Gantiwarno Cuban field
hospital is in an earthquake zone about 30km from Jogyakarta, a site
still bearing the scars of the disaster. In Prambanan field hospital,
Dr Luis Sandoval has few problems understanding the patients.
Communication is good thanks to the translators - a band of volunteer
interpreters, many of them Indonesian medical students.
The two hospitals include 34 Cuban doctors as part of a medical team
of 64 people, including nurses, laboratory specialists and
technicians. About half of the doctors are female, an advantage in
dealing with cultural sensitivities in Muslim countries, where women
are reluctant to be thoroughly examined by a male doctor.
"Many ask why we are here," said Dr Oscar Putol, who works in the
intensive-care unit. "It is about humanity and saving lives, we are
here to help."
Long lines of Indonesians still queue every day outside the tents of
the two Cuban hospitals. Inside the huge tent, several patients are
examined by a team of family doctors wearing the clinical green
uniforms usually associated with surgeons. The women wear traditional
head scarves in keeping with the conservative Muslim dress code that
prevails in rural areas.
After the earthquake, thousands suffered broken bones, fractures and
other injuries familiar to the experienced Cuban orthopaedic
specialists and surgeons, veterans of several medical missions,
including natural disasters in Haiti, Guatemala, Pakistan and Sri
Lanka. Cuba's major contribution to saving lives - it says it
currently deploys 29,000 health workers in 68 countries across three
continents - has been almost totally ignored by western media.
"Most important is the relationship between doctors and patients," Dr
Putol said. "The patients trust us. People appreciate that we're not
just doctors, but also humans."
Khalida Ahmad, of Unicef, agreed. "They treat patients like people,
not just cases. Everyone I spoke to from the affected areas were
grateful. They felt they could always go to the Cuban doctors, despite
language difficulties."
Near the consultation tent, Garwono was seeking information about when
his father would receive a hernia operation.
"I accompanied my father to the Cuban hospital. We were surprised and
grateful to see Cuban doctors," Garwono said. "Only one country, Cuba,
has given health care to the Indonesian people for such a long time."
Patients may be referred to an orthopaedic specialist or
gynaecologist, or sent first to the X-ray tent for the next stage in
their treatment. A sign hanging outside another tent reads "clinical
laboratory".
Many victims say they have received no aid from government agencies,
and the aid from Cuba, a country with less wealth than mineral-rich
Indonesia, is greatly appreciated by health authorities.
"We were surprised that doctors from a poor country, a country so far
away that we knew little about, would come here," regional health
co-ordinator Dr Ronny Rockito said. "We can learn from the Cuban
health system. People not affected by the earthquake are coming from
Jogyakarta to get free treatment because they are too poor to pay. The
people are glad it's free."
A head of the medical team estimated 47,000 patients had visited the
hospital since it opened on June 6. As of earlier this month, 900
operations (350 were major surgery cases), 9,700 laboratory tests,
2,000 X-rays and 1,100 ultrasounds had been performed.
But Cuba's motives for its vast aid team have been questioned.
In the wake of last year's earthquake in Pakistan, the US embassy in
Pakistan reportedly pressured President Pervez Musharraf's government
to decline humanitarian aid from Havana. According to official data
from Islamabad, 73 per cent of all patients were treated by Cuban
doctors in 44 places.
The Pakistan magazine Dawn reported that "in many cases Cuban medical
teams have been monitored by dozens of intelligence operatives fearing
they might incite a revolution". Similarly, the US government has been
hostile to Cuban doctors helping out in East Timor and Indonesia. Dr
Putol rejected any notion that Cuba has a political agenda. "We're
here purely out of humanitarian motives," he said.
Public health specialist Araceli Castro was in Cuba during Hurricane
Katrina. "Cuban doctors were ready to go to the US. It was admirable,"
the Harvard University academic and WHO adviser said. "But it was also
very funny that this tiny country was ready to send help to the
largest country in the world."