Ukraine Thanks Cuba For Chernobyl Children Care
Date: 30-Mar-05
Country: CUBA
For 15 years, children from Chernobyl have traveled to Cuba to be treated free of cost by Cuban doctors at the beach resort of Tarara, on the eastern outskirts of Havana.
The pale, sometimes bald, strikingly beautiful children can often be seen playing joyfully on the beach and splashing in the warm Caribbean sea.
They have been treated for cancers, kidney and thyroid ailments, digestive and nervous disorders, and the loss of hair and skin pigmentation.
"At a difficult moment for the people of Ukraine, Cuba was one of the first to extend a helping hand with health care for the children," Polischuk said at a ceremony marking the 15th anniversary of the Cuban program.
Ukrainian parents and children thanked Cuban President Fidel Castro, danced on a theater stage and recited poems by Cuban independence hero Jose Marti.
Communist Cuba began the program in 1990 and kept it going through its own economic meltdown following the collapse of its international sponsor, the Soviet Union.
Figures have never been released for the cost of the program, which Havana says is part of it international solidarity efforts that have sent tens of thousands of Cuban doctors to work in poor Third World countries.
Polischuk praised the quality of Cuba's medical system and its warm climate, which some specialists say has played a psychological role in the recovery of the children.
