All those who are rooting for NATO in the Libyan attack should ask themselves, what they actually know about the Libya that NATO is destroying. What do you know of the type of society that was in place before the “rebels” backed up by the oil hungry Western fighting machine NATO started its onslaught, an onslaught that has totally destroy the infrastructure of that country? How did the people live? Who are these “rebels”? I bet you don't know, except what the Western imperialist media has told you. Don't you think that might be a biased view? How long will it be before the Libyan's can once again experience the free education, free health care, free clean drinking water for all, decent working conditions and a decent pension they had before the "rebels" set them free? As soon a any rebellion calls on the Western imperialist powers for military help, it has sold any legitimacy it may have held.
HEALTH AND WELFARE.
Social Welfare
A government advertisement appearing in an international publication in 1977
asserted that the Libyan social security legislation of 1973 ranked among the
most comprehensive in the world and that it protected all citizens from many
hazards associated with employment. The social security program instituted in
1957 had already provided protection superior to that available in many or most
developing countries, and in the 1980s the welfare available to Libyans included
much more than was provided under the social security law: work injury and
sickness compensation and disability, retirement, and survivors' pensions.
Workers employed by foreign firms were entitled to the same social security
benefits as workers employed by Libyan citizens.
Subsidized food, inexpensive housing, free medical care and education, and
profit-sharing were among the benefits that eased the lives of all citizens. The
government protected the employed in their jobs and subsidized the underemployed
and unemployed. In addition, there were nurseries to care for the children of
working mothers, orphanages for homeless children, and homes for the aged. The
welfare programs had reached even the oasis towns of the desert, where they
reportedly were received with considerable satisfaction. The giving of alms to
the poor remained one of the pillars of the Islamic faith, but the extent of
public welfare was such that there was increasingly less place for private
welfare. Nonetheless, the traditional Arab sense of family responsibility
remained strong, and provision for needy relatives was still a common
practice.
Medical Care
The number of physicians and surgeons in practice increased fivefold between
1965 and 1974, and large increases were registered in the number of dentists,
medical, and paramedical personnel. Further expansion and improvement followed
over the next decade in response to large budgetary outlays, as the
revolutionary regime continued to use its oil income to improve the health and
welfare of all Libyans. The number of doctors and dentists increased from 783 in
1970 to 5,450 in 1985, producing in the case of doctors a ratio of 1 per 673
citizens. These doctors were attached to a comprehensive network of health care
facilities that dispensed free medical care. The number of hospital beds
increased from 7,500 in 1970 to almost 20,000 by 1985, an improvement from 3.5
beds to 5.3 beds per 1,000 citizens. During the same years, substantial
increases were also registered in the number of clinics and health care centers.
A large proportion of medical and paramedical personnel were foreigners
brought in under contract from other Arab countries and from Eastern Europe. The
major efforts to "Libyanize" health care professionals, however, were beginning
to show results in the mid1980s . Libyan sources claimed that approximately 33
percent of all doctors were nationals in 1985, as compared with only about 6
percent a decade earlier. In the field of nursing staff and technicians, the
situation was considerably better--about 80 percent were Libyan. Schools of
nursing had been in existence since the early 1960s, and the faculties of
medicine in the universities at Tripoli and Benghazi included specialized
institutes for nurses and technicians. The first medical school was not
established until 1970, and there was no school of dentistry until 1974. By 1978
a total of nearly 500 students was enrolled in medical studies at schools in
Benghazi and Tripoli, and the dental school in Benghazi had graduated its first
class of 23 students. In addition, some students were pursuing graduate medical
studies abroad, but in the immediate future Libya was expected to continue to
rely heavily on expatriate medical personnel.
Among the major health hazards endemic in the country in the 1970s were
typhoid and paratyphoid, infectious hepatitis, leishmaniasis, rabies,
meningitis, schistosomiasis, and venereal diseases. Also reported as having high
incidence were various childhood diseases, such as whooping cough, mumps,
measles, and chicken pox. Cholera occurred intermittently and, although malaria
was regarded as having been eliminated in the 1960s, malaria suppressants were
often recommended for use in desert oasis areas.
By the early 1980s, it was claimed that most or all of these diseases were
under control. A high rate of trachoma formerly left 10 percent or more of the
population blinded or with critically impaired vision, but by the late 1970s the
disease appeared to have been brought under control. The incidence of new cases
of tuberculosis was reduced by nearly half between 1969 and 1976, and twenty-two
new centers for tuberculosis care were constructed between 1970 and 1985. By the
early 1980s, two rehabilitation centers for the handicapped had been built, one
each in Benghazi and Tripoli. These offered both medical and job-training
services and complemented the range of health care services available in the
country.
The streets of Tripoli and Benghazi were kept scrupulously clean, and
drinking water in these cities was of good quality. The government had made
significant efforts to provide safe water. In summing up accomplishments since
1970, officials listed almost 1,500 wells drilled and more than 900 reservoirs
in service in 1985, in addition to 9,000 kilometers of potable water networks
and 44 desalination plants. Sewage disposal had also received considerable
attention, twenty-eight treatment plants having been built.
