Cuba takes steps to improve Primary Care services

 HAVANA, Cuba, May 9 (ACN) Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel and other government leaders met with scientists and experts on health issues to discuss potential improvements in primary health care services, based on the Family Doctor and Nurse Program designed 39 years ago by the historic leader of the Revolution, Fidel Castro.

Chaired by José Ángel Portal Miranda, Minister of Public Health, the meeting addressed a new plan of nearly fifty science- and innovation-oriented actions, including measures to reduce doctor's office bureaucracy and the implementation of a Digital Health Program.

Ailuj Casanova Barreto, head of Primary Health Care at the Ministry of Public Health, referred to some findings of a study that included expert commissions and workshops, namely excessive paperwork, work overload imposed by other health programs, and poor working conditions in terms of infrastructure and resources.

The new management model envisages the reduction of the quota of patients per doctor and nurse, increased home care, and the professionalization of the 24-hour emergency services in polyclinics, as well as steps to boost care in far-off rural areas and vulnerable neighborhoods.

President Díaz-Canel also stressed the need that the medical professionals engage in health-related research at community level with a view to become doctors of science.