Cuban Healthcare

After taking over Cuba, Fidel Castro and his brother Raul made Cuba a communist country. One of the major social and economic changes was the healthcare system. The Cuban healthcare system was made free for everyone with the Cuban government running the system. While the main thing it has been criticized over the years is the lack of modernisation in the infrastructure of the hospitals and equipment, the Cuban healthcare system has made the life expectancy in Cuba on par with the US at 79 years and a low infant mortality rate. Cuba has the largest ratio of doctors; 8.2 per 1,000 people.
Cuban neigbourhoods have polyclinics which are innovative teams made up a family physician, a nurse and a social worker. The team usually lives above the clinic and are responsible for the well-being of the families in the surrounding area. Cuban healthcare workers are usually first to respond to global disaster relief efforts and Cuba has inbound relief efforts in bringing in patients into Cuba for healthcare treatment and recovery. The average wage for a health professional in Cuba is $65 a month which is €53 when converted to euro.