Cuban medical personnel had clearly made a major difference to Haiti national health profile since 1998, largely because of their proactive role in preventive medicine-as can be seen below.
By 2010, at no cost to medical students, Cuba had trained some 550 Haitian doctors, and is at present training a further 567. Moreover, since 1998 some 6, 094 Cuban medical personnel have worked in Haiti.
They had given over 14.6 million consultations, carried out 207, 000 surgical operations, including 45, 000 vision restoration operations through their Operation Miracle programme, attended 103, 000 births, and taught literacy to 165, 000. In fact at the time of the earthquake there were 344 Cuban medical personnel there.
All of this medical cooperation, it must be remembered, was provided over an 11-year period before the earthquake of January 12, 2010.
Cuba and Haiti Post-Earthquake
Lost in the media shuffle was the fact that, for the first 72 hours following the earthquake, Cuban doctors were in fact the main medical support for the country.
Within the first 24 hours, they had completed 1, 000 emergency surgeries, turned their living quarters into clinics, and were running the only medical centers in the country, including 5 comprehensive diagnostic centers (small hospitals) which they had previously built.
In addition another 5 in various stages of construction were also used, and they turned their ophthalmology center into a field hospital-which treated 605 patients within the first 12 hours following the earthquake.
Cuba soon became responsible for some 1, 500 medical personnel in Haiti.
Of those, some 344 doctors were already working in Haiti, while over 350 members of the "Henry Reeve" Emergency Response Medical Brigade were sent by Cuba following the earthquake.
In addition, 546 graduates of ELAM from a variety of countries, and 184 5th and 6th year Haitian ELAM students joined, as did a number of Venezuelan medical personnel.
In the final analysis, they were working throughout Haiti in 20 rehabilitation centers and 20 hospitals, running 15 operating theatres, and had vaccinated 400, 000. With reason Fidel Castro stated, "we send doctors, not soldiers".
Posted by The Media on 4/2/10 5:50 PM
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