Cuban doctors arrive in Türkiye to help in earthquake-stricken areas

HAVANA, Cuba, Feb 13 (ACN) Cuban collaborators of the "Henry Reeve" International Contingent of Doctors Specialized in Situations of Disasters and Serious Epidemics arrived this Sunday in Türkiye to contribute to save lives and help in the recovery of the victims of the devastating earthquake that affected that country and Syria.

One of the members of the team of 32 professionals is Dr. Ruber Ortiz Legra, a specialist in General Comprehensive Medicine (MGI) with a degree in intensive and adult care, who told the Cuban News Agency (ACN) that this is his third international mission.

In 2013 he was in Venezuela and in 2020 he was part of the Henry Reeve Contingent brigade that assisted the population of Azerbaijan to fight the COVID-19, he said at the Central Unit of Medical Cooperation before traveling to the Turkish nation.

Upon arriving in Azerbaijan, he said, the impact was enormous, mainly because it was a different culture and language, but as Cubans we knew how to face that task and insert ourselves in the work of its professionals.

For the doctor from Matanzas, that experience will contribute to do a better job in Türkiye, where they will once again put the name of Cuba and its medicine on high, he assured.

Yordys Lázaro Medero Batista, a specialist in MGI with a diploma in intensive care and adult emergency, told ACN that belonging to the Henry Reeve Contingent is one of the greatest satisfactions for a revolutionary Cuban doctor in current times.

"Integrating one of their brigades was a goal for me and now it is a dream achieved. I hope to give my best in Türkiye, a brotherly people that needs our help", expressed the doctor from Mayabeque province.

He pointed out that this is his first international mission, although he received a lot of preparation and feedback from the experiences of his colleagues, "I just have to put my chest out and save lives".

A powerful earthquake shook the nations of Turkey and Syria on Monday, February 6, followed by strong aftershocks that collapsed infrastructure and left thousands of people trapped under the rubble.

Since its founding in 2005, the Henry Reeve Contingent assisted populations affected by earthquakes in Pakistan (2005), Indonesia (2006), Peru (2007), China (2008), Haiti (2010), Chile (2010), Nepal (2015), Ecuador (2016) and Mexico (2017).