Photo: Estudio Revolución“…You took the light of hope, affection and solidarity on these missions,” stated the President of the Republic, Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez, addressing health professionals who, as part of the Henry Reeve Contingent, joined the COVID-19 battle in the Italian city of Turin and in St. Vincent and the Grenadines, during a meeting July 29, held at the La Pradera International Health Center to welcome them home, in which Prime Minister Manuel Marrero Cruz also participated, among other national authorities.

This is the essence that defines and arms us as a nation and around the world, with more strength in these difficult months of confronting the pandemic, the President emphasized, because for our health personnel, “medicine is not only science, it is also humanism.”

Photo: Estudio RevoluciónAmong the brigade members who took the floor was Dr. René Aveleira Cutiño, a specialist in Hygiene and Epidemiology, who served in Turin. “We were 38 Cubans representing the essence of a country,” he said.

Dr. Luis Miguel Osoria Mengana, specialist in General Comprehensive Medicine and Surgery, one of the youngest to travel to Italy, commented on how gratifying it was to have the opportunity to expand his knowledge, during the hard work carried out over these months, adding, “Know that you can count on young people for whatever is needed.”

Photo: Estudio RevoluciónAt first they saw us as “extra-terrestrials,” recalled Osmani Machado Rojas, a specialist in primary health care who was part of the brigade in St. Vincent and the Grenadines. As the days passed, he said, we became “health professionals providing care to a patient. In the streets and hospitals, the recognition of Cuba never ceased, he said.

Definitely, with our health professionals, Cuba was in Turin, as well as in St. Vincent and the Grenadines, and many other nations where they have come to save lives, to leave our essence.

Photo: Estudio RevoluciónIntellectual and journalist Enrique Ubieta Gómez traveled to Italy with the Henry Reeve brigade, as the chronicler of Cuban collaboration in times of pandemic, the President noted. “When the doctor touches the patient’s hand, speaking with affection, when there is a human relationship, the patient recovers faster. This is not in the books, it goes beyond. And there, beyond, they have all carried the essences they learned well at home,” Ubieta concluded.

Photo: Estudio Revolución

Photo: Estudio Revolución