Thursday 1 September 2011

Over 4 million patients seen by Cuban doctors in Nicaragua

The Ernesto Che Guevara medical brigade working in Nicaragua since 2007 has offered more than four million consultations as part of a collaboration program between Cuba and Nicaragua.

Dr. Alfredo Rodriguez, head of the group, told Latin American news agency Prensa Latina that the Cuban doctors, at the request of the ruling Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN), will continue offering their help to low-income people in far-off areas.

The Cuban specialists are working in the poorest areas of Nicaragua including Siuna, Bonanza, Puerto Cabeza, Waslala, Mulukuku, Laguna de Perlas, Bluefields and Kukrahill.

They are also providing their services in the Lenin Fonseca Institution, in Managua and in the hospitals of Muelle de los Bueyes (Autonomous Region of the Southern Atlantic) and Waspan (Autonomous Region of the Northern Atlantic).

Rodriguez told Prensa Latina that their work does not simply involve consultations in health care centres, but includes home visits to local families.

Out of 172 Cuban specialists, 43 are participating in the Operation Miracle program which offers people with blindness or poor eyesight free surgery. Over two million people across Latin America have had corrective eye surgery through Operation Miracle.

Cuba also helps Nicaragua by providing medical training to more than 300 youngsters in under and postgraduate programs at the Latin American Medical School based in Havana.

For the FSLN, the Cuban help contributes to meeting the government's objective of restoring the Nicaraguan peoples' rights that were neglected during 16 years of neo-liberalism.

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