Medical brigades in Haiti: 16 years of Cuban internationalist solidarity

Sixteen years ago Cuba established a medical mission here in response to a request by the Haitian government to provide care to the victims of Hurricane George. Since the initial contingent of 100 medical volunteers arrived here Dec. 4, 1998, the internationalist mission has grown, as Cuba responded to the devastating earthquake that killed more than 300,000 Haitians in 2010 and repeated cholera outbreaks since. As they work to fight disease and injuries, Cuban doctors and other medical workers also collaborate to build a nationwide public health system.

The medical workers volunteer in revolutionary Cuba’s tradition of international solidarity, ranging from combatants in Bolivia and Angola in the 1960s and ’70s to medical workers helping lead the fight against the Ebola virus in West Africa today.

Currently, some 600 doctors and other medical personnel provide free health care in Haiti. More than 6,000 Cuban volunteers have served in Haiti’s health care system since 1998. There are also 300 Cuban volunteers helping in agriculture, sports, environmental projects and a national literacy campaign.

The Cuban medical teams work in community hospitals, clinics and rehabilitation centers throughout the country. Through mobile clinics and improvised medical posts they reach some of the poorest neighborhoods and hard-to-reach rural areas. The Cubans work together with Haitian doctors, many of whom are graduates from the Latin America School of Medicine (ELAM) in Cuba, set up to train students from all over the world — including the United States — free of charge. The only requirement is that graduates agree to return to their native countries and practice.

Hundreds of Haitians have graduated from the ELAM. With Cuba’s collaboration the governments of Brazil and Venezuela have financed the construction of three new hospitals and the remodeling of 30 others to help build Haiti’s public health system.

On Dec. 15 Militant reporters visited the Renaissance Hospital, the main complex where the Cuban medical brigade in Port-au-Prince runs ophthalmology and physical rehabilitation programs.

‘A big turnout of patients’
“Every day there is a big turnout of patients, and it’s like this everywhere the Cuban doctors practice,” said Dr. Fernando Fernández Tascón, head of the medical team at Renaissance.

The eye treatment program — known internationally as Operation Miracle — provides an average of 10 to 15 operations daily to patients suffering from cataracts, glaucoma and other forms of blindness. Cuban doctors have restored or improved eyesight for more than 53,000 Haitians through the program. Many of the patients at Renaissance also receive treatment for hypertension, diabetes and other illnesses that need to be stabilized before undergoing surgery. The average waiting period for treatment is seven to 10 days.

The Cuban medical brigade in Haiti has achieved an impressive record over 16 years, providing 22 million medical checkups — 680,000 of them visiting people in their homes — and carried out more than 400,000 surgical procedures.

Over the years Cuba’s internationalist solidarity has won the appreciation and trust of millions of Haitians. Bon bagay! (Great work!) is the greeting many Haitians give when they meet a Cuban doctor on the street.

“The Cuban doctors have a humane way of treating and caring for people,” said Lifette Ociel, 76, who was at the Renaissance hospital for a displaced bone. “We go to the Cuban doctors because they treat you well and they don’t charge,” said Mariu Carmel, another patient.

When asked how much a regular doctor in Haiti charges for services, Antoine, 36, who was waiting outside the hospital while his wife’s eyes were being examined, said he had no idea because his family had never seen a doctor before. Other patients told us the same thing.

Cuba increases medical mission
When the January 2010 earthquake hit, Cuba had hundreds of volunteer medical personnel already on hand in Haiti. Cuba immediately increased its medical mission to more than 1,400 volunteers and treated more than 95,000 people, performing 4,500 surgeries over the next two months. Among the volunteers who came after the earthquake were members of the Henry Reeve International Contingent, which includes ELAM graduates from 21 countries, Fernández explained.

“In the aftermath of the earthquake limb amputations were common,” said Patricia Mendiondo Ramos, a physician currently heading the physical rehabilitation program at Renaissance. The program provides physical therapy and prosthetics to thousands of Haitians. It has distributed — free of charge — medicines, wheel chairs, walkers, canes and orthopedic equipment. A team of Cuban specialists also works at the newly built National Rehabilitation Institute providing services to people with disabilities and training Haitian medical workers.

The long-term costs of prostheses rehabilitation are very expensive, explained Mendiondo, because they need to be adjusted as the person changes physically. This is certainly the case wherever medicine is practiced for profit. But Cuba provides the services at the institute completely free of charge.

Like other members of the Cuban medical brigade in Haiti, Fernández has participated in medical missions in other countries. This is Mendiondo’s second stint in Haiti, and she has served in Honduras and Venezuela. She volunteered to come to Haiti immediately after the earthquake.

“Our mission is to provide help to the Haitian people,” Fernández said. “As we do it we grow as human beings.”

“This is why we are proud of Félix Báez Sarria, the Cuban doctor in Sierra Leone who volunteered to go back to fight the Ebola epidemic after he himself had to be treated when he got infected with the disease.” Báez is one of the several hundred Cuban doctors and nurses currently treating Ebola patients in West Africa. “His example strengthens us.”