Operation Miracle Restores Sight to Thousands of Salvadorans

HAVANA, Cuba, Feb 24 (acn) A little more than eight months after its implementation, and conceived in the solidarity initiative called Operation Miracle, the National Eye Center of El Salvador carried out operation four thousand, a figure planned as an annual goal, Prensa Latina (PL) reported.

Surgeon Miguel Martinez, who heads the team of 12 Cuban specialists, said he is proud of the work they do at the center, located in the Santa Gertrudis public hospital, in the department of San Vicente.
But most importantly, he said, is the appreciation of patients once their vision is restored.
Before Operation Miracle came directly to El Salvador, patients suffering from cataracts and pterygium were taken to Cuba or Venezuela, and the whole process, although equally free, generated more delay due to the transfer to these countries.
On May 29, 2015, President Salvador Sanchez Ceren inaugurated the National Eye Center, which provides Salvadorans with diagnostic evaluation, surgical care and postoperative follow-up, free of charge, although surgeries began in June of that year.
Operation or Operation Miracle was an initiative of leaders Fidel Castro and Hugo Chavez and began in 2004 when Venezuelan patients were brought to Cuba, where they were operated on.