Cuban doctors are still in the earthquake-affected areas of Haiti

By Anneli Ruiz Garcia

Prince Port. Ten days after the earthquake that struck Haiti, today Cuban doctors continue to work in the affected areas, paying special attention to diseases such as cholera or COVID-19 that can spread.

Corail is a community of Grand Anse, located about 170 kilometers southwest of Port-au-Prince. There, nearly half of the 20,000 residents had to leave their homes, some because they succumbed to the earthquake and others were damaged, Mayor Alex Maxia confirmed.

After the earthquake, the Cuban brigade treated the wounded in a tent outside the hospital, where it was badly damaged during the 7.2 open Richter scale earthquake, which originated about 30 kilometers from the municipality.

Doctors performed more than 120 minor surgeries, attended about thirty bills, and treated more than 70 patients on the same day of the earthquake. Now they track victims, in addition to their usual work with chronic patients and infectious diseases.

Added to this work are visits to the homes or places where the victims took refuge after the earthquake, which was especially intense in that region.

“We’re watching for cholera and respiratory diseases, because a lot of people were overwhelmed by the earthquake,” rehabilitation expert Gilbert Fuentes, of Holguín County, told Prensa Latina.

Sources confirmed that as of Tuesday, they had diagnosed almost no diarrhea or symptoms indicating a resurgence of the COVID-19 outbreak, but it is still too early to lower our guard.

In Coriel, dozens of people still live in shelter in the main town square, under makeshift tents and a short distance between them, amid the urgency that deepens the earthquake.

History is repeating itself in the remote communes that have also suffered damage, and now face challenges of accessing clean water or food, but medical care where the Cubans are located is a guarantee.