-DATE-
19880430
-YEAR-
1988
-DOCUMENT_TYPE-
MEETING
-AUTHOR-
F.CASTRO
-HEADLINE-
MEDICAL PROJECTS DISCUSSED- CASTRO & FEDOROV
-PLACE-
CARLOS J. FINLAY EMERGENCY CTR - CUBA
-SOURCE-
HAVANA TELE-REBELDE
-REPORT_NBR-
FBIS
-REPORT_DATE-
19880502
-TEXT-
Medical Projects Discussed

FL3004161088 Havana Tele-Rebelde Network in Spanish 1317 GMT 30 Apr 88

[Exchange between President Fidel Castro and Soviet scientist (Svyatoslav
Fedorov) during a break in their tour of the Carlos J. Finlay Emergency
Center on 29 April--recorded]

[Text] [Castro] We have five projects today.  By the end of the year we
will inaugurate [words indistinct] more projects.  We will inaugurate a
pediatric hospital, two [corrects himself] three very big extensions.  We
will inaugurate the Frank Pais Hospital extension.

This year we have [words indistinct] extensions left.  We have 20 more
polyclinics like the one we saw.  They were in old homes.  This year the
entire city has 64.  Is it 64 or 74?  There are 75 polyclinics now.

[Unidentified speaker] This year there are 20 polyclinics.

[Castro, interrupting] There are 20.  They all have adequate installations.
They all have physical therapy gyms.

[(Federov), in Russian with consecutive Spanish translation] How (?is this
possible) [[words indistinct]

[Castro] We are making sacrifices.

[(Federov)] [Words indistinct]

[Castro] There is a small amount of resources (?available).  These
resources are dedicated to research, to hospitals such as this, new medical
technology.

We are always looking for investments for this purpose.  I think that
hospitals will become a source of convertible income.  I'm talking about
new hospitals.  They will have about 150 beds for (?patients).

All this today elevates the quality of medical service to all the people.
However, I think that medicine will become a source of income in our
country.

Now we have to develop tourism and awe have to develop other areas.  One of
the things we are doing now is collecting gold and silver, silver coins
which have been saved.  These resources are being dedicated to health
investments, research.  The industry is important.

If we lack the resources, we have to find them.  One has to work more and
better to achieve this.  One has to work more and better in each area that
generates income.  I'm referring to income spent on equipment.

This year we will finish two medical equipment factories.  We will
manufacture the majority of our own medical equipment, except for new very
sophisticated equipment, such as an axial [words indistinct] tomography,
magnetic nuclear resonance [resonancia nuclear magnetica], or a linear
accelerator.  We have to buy these abroad.

We are waiting for the Soviet Union to develop and produce medical
equipment so that we can purchase some equipment from the USSR.  We also
hope to export some equipment to the USSR.  We have high-quality laboratory
equipment, such as the ultra microanalytic system.  It is a very modern
piece of equipment which does not yet exist in other countries, and is used
in (?intensive laboratory research).  It is a large (?acquisition) but it
is very beneficial.  They say that the Soviet Union is making an effort...
[changes thought] The center we visited has some Soviet equipment.  It also
has some Japanese equipment, capitalist and Soviet medical equipment.
-END-