Cuban doctors return to Cuba after intense work in Türkiye

HAVANA, Cuba, Mar 11 (ACN) After intense days of work, the collaborators of the Henry Reeve International Contingent of Doctors Specialized in Disaster Situations and Serious Epidemics who assisted the population of Türkiye, affected by terrible earthquakes, returned to Cuba this Saturday.

Upon their arrival at José Martí International Airport in Havana, they were received by Jorge Luis Broche Lorenzo, member of the Secretariat of the Central Committee of the Party and head of the Department of Attention to the Social Sector, Jorge Luis Perdomo Di-Lella, Deputy Prime Minister, José Angel Portal Miranda, Minister of Public Health, and Vehbi Esgel Etensel, Turkish Ambassador to Cuba.

Doctor Juan Carlos Dupuy Nuñez, head of the medical brigade, affirmed that the mission was carried out in an honest, simple and humane manner and referred to the work done by the 32 Cubans together with the Turkish professionals.

He said that they reached the heart of this brotherly people, they were in the most affected areas of the province of Kahramanmaraş, in camps for the victims and reaching the most remote places.

He detailed that the medical brigade attended a total of 3,755 patients in 24 days of work, including 620 children, operated more than 60 cases and performed more than 6, 500 nursing procedures.

"The footprint we left marked the Turkish people who opened their arms, their homes, their families and from Türkiye, as in other parts of the world where our country has provided its disinterested and solidary assistance, we only returned with the reward of the patients' smiles," she said.

Dr. Tania Margarita Cruz Hernández, First Deputy Minister of Public Health, highlighted the work of the Cuban collaborators for whom the language, the low temperatures and the constant aftershocks did not represent obstacles.

"There were ample and multiple expressions of gratitude and affection from the Turkish people and the authorities of that country, which shows the respect and recognition that Cuban medicine has," she said.

Since its foundation 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).