Kerry Smith
Act Now to End Racism and War (ANSWER), one of the two main anti-war coalitions in the United States, issued a call on September 3 for US voters to demand that President George Bush accept socialist Cuba's offer, first made on August 30, to send 1100 doctors and 25 tonnes of medicine and medical equipment to the hurricane-ravaged US Gulf Coast. On September 3, Cuba increased the offer to 1586 doctors, ready for immediate and indefinite deployment.
"There is now a dire need for medical attention in Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Texas and in other southern states", the ANSWER call said. "The Cuban doctors, nurses and professional healthcare staff are world renowned for their medical expertise and their ability to provide assistance even in the most difficult conditions, and have traveled throughout the Americas and the world providing care to those in need. The people of Cuba, even with far less resources than the United States, have survived extreme hurricanes and flooding because the government mobilizes to put people first, evacuating hundreds of thousands and providing necessary food, water and medical care immediately.
"These doctors and the medicine and equipment stand ready to fly to Houston and can arrive within hours as soon as they get permission — permission that thus far has not been given by the US government. In their public statements about countries that have offered assistance, the Bush administration has not even acknowledged this offer from Cuba.
"Bush's racist and cavalier conduct towards the dying and suffering in New Orleans has been criminal. For him to withhold this medical support from people in need is cruel and outrageous. He will let even more people die needlessly just to support his right-wing political agenda against Cuba."
On September 7, Medical Education Cooperation with Cuba (MEDICC) also urged the US government to accept Cuba's offer in order to prevent a "second wave of sickness and death".
Peter Bourne, MD, MEDICC chairperson and former special adviser on health in the White House said that "Cuban physicians are accustomed to working in difficult Third World conditions without the resources and supplies most of us are accustomed to. Since they are just an hour away, it is a shame that they have not been allowed to join our committed medical corps already."
Dr William Keck, former director of the Akron, Ohio, Department of Public Health, added: "Cuba has been recognised by the UN, Oxfam and other international organisations as a leader in disaster response, expertise that could be saving lives now."
[Visit <http://www.medicc.org>. A 2004 Oxfam Report Weathering the Storm: Lessons in Risk Reduction from Cuba, can be viewed at <http://www.oxfamamerica.org/cuba>.]
From Green Left Weekly, September 14, 2005.
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