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Viewing cable 08BUENOSAIRES144, BOLIVARIAN VISION FOR ARGENTINE CATARACT PATIENTS

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Reference ID Created Released Classification Origin
08BUENOSAIRES144 2008-02-07 13:31 2011-08-24 01:00 UNCLASSIFIED Embassy Buenos Aires
VZCZCXYZ0012
RR RUEHWEB

DE RUEHBU #0144/01 0381331
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 071331Z FEB 08
FM AMEMBASSY BUENOS AIRES
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 0188
INFO RUEHAC/AMEMBASSY ASUNCION 6800
RUEHBR/AMEMBASSY BRASILIA 6696
RUEHCV/AMEMBASSY CARACAS 1703
RUEHLP/AMEMBASSY LA PAZ FEB MONTEVIDEO 7000
RHMFIUU/HQ USSOUTHCOM MIAMI FL
RUEHUB/USINT HAVANA 0079
UNCLAS BUENOS AIRES 000144 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
USAID/DDA FOR MARK SILVERMAN 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREL SOCI EAID PREF PROP TBIO AR CU VZ
SUBJECT: BOLIVARIAN VISION FOR ARGENTINE CATARACT PATIENTS 
 
REF: 07 ASUNCION 576 
 
------- 
Summary 
------- 
 
1.  Argentines needing cataract surgery are traveling to 
Bolivia for treatment by Cuban doctors.  A leading Buenos 
Aires newspaper reported that approximately 17,000 Argentine 
citizens crossed the border for that reason over the past two 
years, although that figure is likely inflated.  The GOA will 
not allow unlicensed Cuban (or other) doctors to practice 
here.  At the same time, some poorer provinces within 
Argentina face perennial shortages of specialty medical 
supplies, spurring the medical migration.  We are trying to 
discover whether the GOA and the Argentine medical community 
are interested in staunching that patient flow and, if so, 
what helpful role we can play in that effort.  End Summary. 
 
------------------- 
A Medical Migration 
------------------- 
 
2.  Leading daily La Nacion reported February 4 that 17,000 
Argentines have traveled to Bolivia over the past two years 
for cataract surgery by Cuban doctors under the auspices of 
the Cuban-Venezuelan Operacion Milagros (Operation Miracle) 
initiative.  According to the article, Argentine NGOs and 
non-official social services organizations have been scouring 
underprivileged areas in Argentina for cataract surgery 
candidates.  Once identified, such candidates were then 
provided with transportation to two sites along the 
Argentina-Bolivia border (Villazon and Yacuiba, bordering the 
northern Argentine provinces of Jujuy and Salta, 
respectively), where three hundred Cuban doctors are 
reportedly available to perform the necessary surgery. 
 
---------------------- 
The Argentine Response 
---------------------- 
 
3.  The Director of International Relations at the Argentine 
Ministry of Health, Sebastian Tobar, told Emboff that 
Argentina is unable to confirm the 17,000 patient figure 
cited in the newspaper account, as no relevant official 
statistics exist.  Still, he strongly disputed the need for 
Argentine citizens to go elsewhere for cataract care, and 
made it clear that the Government of Argentina has 
demonstrated no interest in allowing foreign doctors to 
perform operations on Argentine soil.  Specifically, Tobar 
said: "As opposed to other countries in the region, Argentina 
has not found it expedient to participate in programs whereby 
Cuban doctors perform surgeries on Argentine territory." 
 
4.  To support his claim that the GOA meets the cataract-care 
needs of its citizens, Tobar described his ministry's 
achievements in the area, beginning with the establishment in 
2006 of the National Program of Eye Health and Prevention of 
Blindness.  According to Tobar, that program boasts the 
following accomplishments: 
 
-- Cooperation pacts signed with 23 of Argentina's 24 
provinces. 
 
-- Close coordination with the GOA's indigenous affairs 
entity, to ensure access and care for Argentina's often 
economically disadvantaged indigenous population. 
 
-- Government purchase of the expensive intraocular lenses, 
surgical kits, and other materials necessary for cataract 
surgery.  In the fourteen month period ending in December 
2007, the GOA purchased 4,643 lenses and surgically implanted 
3,236 of those. 
 
5.  The Argentine Ophthalmologic Society, which represents 
many of the approximately 4,500 ophthalmologists licensed to 
practice in Argentina, also weighed in with Emboff.  It was 
the Society and similar groups whse protests forced the GOA 
to reject the idea of Cuban doctors operating in Argentina 
without the proper certifications, according to Society 
Executive Secretary Maria Ines Kawlucki.  Society President 
Dr. Edgardo Manzitti confirmed to Emboff that opthalmologists 
from provinces near Bolivia have complained that patients 
that would ordinarily be expected to seek treatment within 
their home provinces are instead crossing the border.  Dr. 
Manzitti blamed a lack of provincial resources (specifically, 
specialty medical supplies, which he said were always in 
short supply) and energetic marketing by organizations 
associated with Operacion Milagros for that phenomenon.  Dr. 
Manzitti stressed that there is no shortage of trained 
specialists within Argentina. 
 
---------------- 
An Embassy Role? 
---------------- 
 
6.  Post has watched with interest Embassy Asuncion's 
partnership (reftel) with a U.S. eye health firm (Alcon) and 
Paraguayan doctors, whereby the U.S. firm donated intraocular 
lenses and cataract surgical kits, while Paraguayan doctors 
contacted by the Embassy used those supplies to provide free 
cataract operations to needy Paraguayans.  We have made 
initial contacts with both Alcon and the Argentine 
Ophthalmologic Society with an eye to possibly initiating a 
similar partnership in Argentina, and will report on 
developments. 
 
------- 
Comment 
------- 
 
7.  No reliable statistics exist concerning the number of 
cataract operations undertaken each year in Argentina, 
according to Dr. Manzitti.  Still, no expert with whom we 
spoke -- calls to Operacion Milagros were not returned -- 
found credible the newspaper's assertion that over 8,000 
Argentines per year opt to travel to Bolivia for cataract 
surgery.  That number is likely inflated.  It is nonetheless 
clear that many Argentines are availing themselves of 
Operacion Milagros's offer of free surgery.  We will keep 
working to determine whether the GOA and the Argentine 
medical community are interested in staunching that patient 
flow and, if so, what helpful role we can play in that 
effort. 
WAYNE