Cuban Emergency Health Workers Return from Haiti

Cuban Emergency Health Workers Return from HaitiHavana, Cuba, July 31.- The last group of health workers that arrived in Haiti after the earthquake that devastated that nation in January, 2010, returned to Cuba after fulfilling its internationalist mission, the Granma newspaper reported on Monday.

The good performance of the 53 voluntary workers of the Cuban Medical Brigade was acknowledged in a farewell meeting attended by Liliana Garcia, charge d’affaires of the Cuban embassy to Port-au-Prince, and Dr. Alejo Sagol, second head of the Medical Mission.

As part of their mission, the Cuban medical staff also carried out investigations to diagnose and detect cholera, an epidemic that has affected over 500,000 people and caused more than 7,000 deaths in Haiti since the outbreak of October, 2010, according to the Pan-American Health Organization (PAHO).

The brigade also worked on the development of an educational program to prevent the disease at active institutions to treat cholera, community reference hospitals, clinics and isolated areas in the country’s ten departments, adds the note.

Cuba’s medical assistance to Haiti began before the occurrence of the earthquake and the epidemic outbreak, and its internationalist mission continues there. (Radio Cadena Agramonte )