Foreigners seeking medical treatment are flocking to Havana, lured by advertisements and lower costs. Cuban officials have said that 3500 foreigners came for health care last year.
“People with a lot of money are looking for our services,” said Dr Carlos Leyvsa, vice president of Cubanacan Tourism and Health. “For them it's not an issue of price but of quality.”
Cira Garcia is a clinic adjoining Havana's wealthy Miramar section, which last year attracted nearly 1300 foreign tourists as inpatients and thousands more as outpatients. Its website proclaims that it is a “leading healthcare organisation for foreigners.”
Cira Garcia offers everything from herniated disc repair—for $4750 (£3400) including anaesthesia and a two week hospital stay—to laser eye surgery and liposuction.
Dr Ramon Prado, the clinic director, said that its prices average about a third lower than those in the United States. For example, according to the American Society of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgeons, in 1999 rhinoplasty cost $3100 in the United States compared with $1710 at Cira Garcia, and abdominoplasty (“tummy tuck”) cost $4198 in the United States compared with $2340 at the clinic.
About 80% of the patients come from Latin America and the Caribbean, but the facility has attracted patients from as far away as Japan and Finland.
Cuba's increasing promotion of health tourism has roused criticism by those who see a two tier health system developing. In a country with one of the highest concentrations of doctors in the world, foreigners and Cuban party elite receive first class service. But ordinary Cubans must make do with dilapidated facilities, outdated equipment, and meagre medical supplies, in part because of the longstanding US embargo against Cuba.
Cuban officials defend their system, however, saying that the $20m or more that the foreign tourists bring to the island each year bolsters Cuba's general finances and helps to support free universal health care for Cuban workers and their families.
Figure.
CHARLIE MARSDEN/PANOS PICTURES
Cuba: ideal for sun, sea and plastic surgery