Some 48 employees of the Henry Reeve International Contingent of Specialized Doctors in Disaster Situations and Serious Epidemics, who provided assistance in Venezuela in the fight against SARS-CoV-2, returned to the country this Friday.
From the temporary working group to confront COVID-19, Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez, President of the Republic, welcomed them and pointed out that this brigade worked under complex conditions in six regions of the Venezuelan geography, where they also contributed to the recovery of Cuban health personnel infested with the virus.
He stressed that for the work carried out they were recognized by the government and the authorities of the territories where they were. The president reiterated his satisfaction for the return of the Cubans to the Homeland and said that once the quarantine period was over, he would meet with them.
Fidel Alejandro Rivero Truit, specialist in intensive care and coordinator of the group in the state of Zulia, told the press that on September 11, when they arrived in the sister country, the situation was difficult due to the increase in cases and the high number of patients in serious and critical condition.
The situation was reversed thanks to the joint effort of the Cuban medical mission in Venezuela and the Henry Reeve Contingent, he added.
We managed to reduce the number of complications and patients affected by the pandemic, especially the most serious ones, in addition to attending to Cuban health collaborators, said the specialist with seven missions abroad.
José Luis Sánchez Pérez, a nursing graduate, commented that they went to Venezuela with the purpose of saving as many lives as possible, a task that was accomplished based on the professionalism, dedication and dedication of the health personnel.
He affirmed that the experience during the Ebola epidemic in West Africa helped him not to trust himself before this silent enemy and to be more prepared.
The Cuban doctors in Venezuelan lands treated 1,087 patients and carried out 28,068 nursing procedures.
They also participated in health education and health education sessions, in addition to offering advice to the Bolivarian nation’s personnel regarding protocols to combat COVID-19.
The brigade was made up of 13 nursing graduates and 32 specialists in intensive therapy, internal medicine, anesthesia, hygiene and epidemiology, pulmonology, nephrology and cardiology; who made 670 specialized consultations and 42 hemodialysis sessions.
The work in caring for positive patients earned them the Order of Merit of the Bolivarian Physician Dr. Gilberto Rodríguez Ochoa, and the April 16 and Gold stamps.
Since the beginning of the pandemic, Cuba has sent 55 brigades of the Henry Reeve Contingent to 40 countries, currently 38 are active with a total of 2,544 collaborators.
In these months, the professionals of this medical force have treated 1,090,799 people in Latin America and the Caribbean, Europe, Africa and Asia.
(With information from ACN)