The Cuban government continues to show its "appreciation" for public health professionals by awarding a used car to the head of Neonatology at the Lenin Hospital in Holguín last Saturday, in recognition of her work and years of dedication to the sector.
According to the Facebook profile of the Lenin Hospital, the "small recognition" was made on behalf of the people of Cuba, highlighting the contributions of Dr. Ana Nastia Tamayo Ortiz "to public health, for the benefit of the lives of many children and the happiness of families in the province of Holguín."
The event had the solemnity typical of government ceremonies, attended by family members and colleagues of the honoree, officials from the care center, and even included the reading of statements. However, it also reflected the surrealism that characterizes the communist system and its shortcomings.
With this “gesture” of giving a used car to a professional with years of experience, the regime attempts to mask the deep flaws of the Cuban public health system, without addressing the fundamental issues affecting the hospital, such as the lack of supplies and the deterioration of the infrastructure.
In many countries, a female doctor specialist, with her expertise and years of experience, could undoubtedly have bought several modern cars and provided better living conditions for her family.
However, in the Cuban reality, healthcare professionals face daily challenges, ranging from insufficient wages to a lack of basic supplies. The government chooses to focus on ceremonial and symbolic acts that do not address the country’s structural problems.
From time to time, the regime “gives away” used cars to professionals with decades of experience as a form of “recognition.”
After 40 years of teaching and many more working in the health sector, a Cuban physiologist received her first car from the State, a gesture that the official media promoted as the "gift of the Revolution" to health professionals on the Island.
According to the local newspaper 5 de Septiembre, Professor Sandra Williams Serrano, a specialist in Physiology at the Raúl Dorticós University of Medical Sciences in Cienfuegos, received the keys to "her brand-new car" in 2018.
That same year, in the middle of the street in Ciego de Ávila, a Cuban doctor was gifted a car as recognition "for her professional performance."
It is about the healthcare professional Belkys Celaida Díaz Fernández, to whom the Provincial Health Directorate presented a Kia Picanto car.
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