[News] Cuban-Haitian Medical Teams in Haiti

[Anti-Imperialist News]

http://www.medicc.org/ns/index.php?s=105

UPDATES: Cuban-Haitian Medical Teams in Haiti

February 2, 2010­Cuban and Cuban-trained Haitian 
doctors­already the largest contingent of medical 
relief workers in Haiti since the January 12th 
earthquake­are being joined by graduates of 
Cuba’s Latin American Medical School (ELAM) from 
a score of countries.  Among the first to arrive 
this week will be several US physicians who studied at ELAM.

Of the 938 health care providers in the teams on 
the ground thus far, 280 are young Haitian 
doctors, and at least 60 more are Haitian medical 
students enrolled at the school. Over the next 
few weeks, they will receive reinforcements of 
their peers in a number of Latin American, African and Caribbean countries.

Like the Cubans, they are planning to stay in 
Haiti to rebuild the public health system: “We’re 
working to provide comprehensive care over the 
long term,” said Dr. Carlos Alberto Garcia, one 
of the teams’ coordinators. He noted that the 
immediate need for surgeries for fractures and 
polytraumas has now given way to rehabilitation 
efforts, treatment of people with diarrhea and 
respiratory infections, and campaigns to prevent 
serious disease outbreaks in the aftermath of the quake.

The Henry Reeve Emergency Medical Contingent­as 
the Cuban-led teams are known, named after a US 
veteran of Cuba’s independence war against 
Spain­is now working in three hospitals, four 
field hospitals, five Comprehensive Diagnostic 
Centers (clinics) and numerous open-air sites in 
Port-au-Prince and throughout Haiti.  The latest 
field hospital was opened January 26 in Croix des 
Bouquets on the outskirts of the capital.

In addition, the contingent will open its ninth 
rehabilitation center this week in 
Port-au-Prince, staffed by nearly 70 Cuban 
physical therapists and rehab specialists, in 
addition to the Haitian medical personnel. 
Another 64 Cuban epidemiologists and nurses are 
working in teams with the Haitian medical 
students to provide health education, vector 
control and vaccinations in some 40 makeshift 
settlements around Port-au-Prince.

“Post-quake epidemics are a real concern of 
course,” noted Dr. Garcia, reporting that the 
teams have thus far vaccinated some 20,000 
Haitians and international volunteers with 
400,000 tetanus vaccines donated by Cuba and 
additional vaccines donated by the Pan American 
Health Organization (PAHO) against whooping 
cough, rubella, measles and diphtheria.

The Cuban-led contingent in numbers, through February 1, 2010:
Health professionals938
Of those, Haitian ELAM grads 280
Persons treated50,000
Surgeries3,400
Complex surgeries1.500
Births280 (including 183 C-sections)

Sources: Granma, Juventud Rebelde, AIN, PL, Trabajadores.



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