Cuba sends medical mission to Chile

[rabs]

Mika called this a couple of days ago on LBN, I think, but can't find his post now.

Main points:

-- 27-member mission left Havana airport at dawn today.

-- Chilean ambassador in Cuba was there to see them off.

-- Mission taking two plane loads of tents, medical equipment, medicines and their own food.

-- The mission was organized in only 10 hours yesterday.

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El Mundo |2 Mar 2010 - 9:03 am
Parte hacia Chile brigada de 27 médicos cubanos
Por: Agencia EFE
11 médicos, 6 enfermeros y personal de apoyo, salió en la madrugada del aeropuerto de La Habana.

Una brigada de 27 médicos y sanitarios cubanos partió hacia Chile para prestar asistencia a los damnificados del terremoto y el tsunami del sábado pasado, informaron fuentes oficiales.

El grupo, integrado por 11 médicos, 6 enfermeros y personal de apoyo, fue despedido en la madrugada en el aeropuerto de La Habana por el ministro cubano de Salud, José Ramón Balaguer, y el embajador chileno en la isla, Gabriel Gaspar.

"Mostraremos nuestro espíritu de humanismo, solidario e internacionalista, como nos ha enseñado nuestro comandante en jefe, Fidel Castro", dijo el jefe de la misión, el médico Juan Carlos Andux, según la agencia oficial AIN.

La viceministra cubana de Salud, Marcia Cobas, explicó que la brigada -que lleva en dos aviones tiendas de campaña, instrumental, equipos, medicamentos y su propia comida- fue constituida en menos de diez horas, "un verdadero récord en la organización de este tipo de grupo médico solidario".

El Gobierno que preside el general Raúl Castro también envió un centenar de médicos y sanitarios a Haití tras el terremoto que causó al menos 217.000 muertes el pasado 12 de enero, que se unieron al medio millar de cooperantes cubanos que ya estaban en ese vecino país

Agencia EFE

[protocol rv]

1. Peru, Brazil, Argentina, USA help Chile

Everybody seems to be helping Chile

http://www.wjla.com/news/stories/0310/711488.html

Including Turkey too

http://www.worldbulletin.net/news_detail.php?id=54743

And Japan

http://www.japantoday.com/category/national/view/japan-to-send-emergency-medical-mission-to-chile

Russia

http://english.ruvr.ru/2010/02/27/4902182.html

Chile will have a lot of help. I wonder, why bring up Cuba? Are you from Cuba?

[Peace Patriot]

2. Protocol rv, your racism against the Indigenous has discredited you. Other DUers should know

...in Comment #36, here...

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=405x30994

Your comments about the "rainforest Chernobly" in Ecuador--the Chevron-Texaco toxic oil spill the size of Rhode Island, which has destroyed fisheries, rivers and streams and the living of 30,000 Indigenous people in the Amazon forest--and your racist remark, that the charges against Chevron should be disregarded because they were "presented by an Indian," taint all your other comments on Latin American issues. You are an oil corporation apologist. And your remarks are so ignorant, uninformed and so like the crap put out by Chevron's 12 P.R. firms--which they hired to discredit the Indigenous who filed suit against them for damages and cleanup--that your views have no credibility whatsoever.

In fact, I advise other DUers to use my Rule No. 1 from the Bush Junta as a guide to determining the truth of your statements: To wit, whatever you assert, the opposite is the truth.

Thus, we can surmise that your comments about other aid to Chile are as ill intended as your comment that we shouldn't accept the word of "an Indian." And clearly you intend it to be mean and petty--so typical of the rightwing, that tiny Cuba mounting an aid mission to Chile doesn't get any credit or praise, but gets dissed for this laudable action, and, of course, Cuba's incredible achievements in emergency preparedness--so remarkable for such a tiny and poor country--get ignored. You just want to piss on Cuba--just like you pissed on the "Indians."

[protocol rv]

8. Broken Record

There's no Chernobyl in the Ecuadorian forest, and if there's pollution, I doubt it was caused by Chevron. I would rather bet the state oil company did it.

[Peace Patriot]

3. Cuba's amazing achievements in emergency preparedness are mostly unknown here,

because our corpo-fascist press treats these and other achievements of the Cuban government and the Cuban people just as "protocol rv" treats them--as nothing, as not worthy of mention, as material to be swiftly stuffed into the black hole where information should be.

[flamingdem]

4. Not only that but to dismiss the excellence of Cuba's emergency disaster knowledge

is to misunderstand how critical that area is to Cuban identity.

It's a huge priority by which they judge themselves as a people.

[Mika]

5. And those of us who do know, and discuss Cuba in fair experience based language..

are branded as "supporters of tyranny", and other such insults, by twits who are functioning as corporate tools.


:hi:

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[protocol rv]

7. Stop the insults please

I'm not a twit nor a corporate tool.

[Mika]

9. I didn't insult you. But, if you're volunteering for the aforementioned position....

.. :shrug:

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[Judi Lynn]

10. Absolutely.

http://lh5.ggpht.com.nyud.net:8090/_g4jfQ9COILQ/Sj-xcG9VSlI/AAAAAAAAHt4/0xEnGroSVNQ/800%20year%20old%20shoe%5B2%5D.jpg

[Mika]

6. My LBN post was bumped to GD in two heartbeats.

I was talking to a doctor friend in Cuba on Sunday who told me this.


Cuba's Henry Reeve Brigade heading to Chile.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x7817404




:hi:

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[rabs]

11. Henry Reeve Brigade has arrived in Chile

Chile's Public Health Minister Alvaro Erazo thanked today the arrival of a team of Cuban doctors together with a fully equipped field hospital to help in emergency care of victims of last Saturday powerful earthquake.

Erazo indicated the Cuban hospital that includes an operating room and a staff of 27 specialists will be placed in Rancagua, 56 miles south of Santiago.

Cuban Ambassador Ileana Diaz-Arguelles received the hospital on Tuesday, explained the brigade is made up of 11 doctors of different specialties as general medicine, intensive care, orthopedics, internal medicine and anesthetics as well as of nurses and X-ray, pharmacy, medical equipment and blood bank technicians.

The brigade is part of the Henry Reeve Contingent of Doctors Specialized in Disaster Situations and Serious Epidemics.

more (english)

http://www.invasor.cu/index.php/en/internacional/3697-cuban-doctors-field-hospital-in-chile

-------------------------

I saw your original post and the same day saw a column by Fidel Castro in which he said there was little Cuba could do to help Chile.

Fidel Castro: poco es lo que puede hacer Cuba por Chile
El ex presidente cubano expresó hoy la "solidaridad y las simpatías" de Cuba, pero consideró que la isla no puede prestar el tipo de ayuda que requiere nuestro país.

more (spanish)

http://www.latercera.com/contenido/678_230236_9.shtml

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So minds were changed between Sunday when Fidel's column appeared and Monday when the mission was arranged in 10 hours.

Looking at it from a political viewpoint, it is a shrewd move both by Bachelet's government and Cuba. Chile gets medical aid it sorely needs right now and Cuba will be lauded by the Chileans the mission will be treating.

It also puts rightwinger Pinera in a pickle, because he can hardly refuse a humanitarian medical mission from Cuba (or anywhere else) in this time of emergency. Pinera will assume the presidency from Bachelet in eight days, March 11 and it is a matter of time before the remnants of the pinochetistas start braying about the presence of Cubans in Chile.

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Meantime, Hillary stopped briefly in Santiago yesterday. She brought U.S. "aid" with her, a telephone for Michelle, who looks like she is thinking "Que diablos hago con esto?"

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Wishing your doctor friend good luck, assume he is in Rancagua by now.

[Mika]

12. For what its worth ....

The Henry Reeve Brigade is made up of a group of Drs all of whom are members of the Cuban Ministry of Health. The Cuban Ministry of Health is an activist group run by elected health care professionals and ancillaries/auxiliaries. It is they who determine, by mass consensus, their various missions of service. Fidel does not order them anywhere. In an emergency, like Haiti or Chile, the members of the HRB request the mission from the Ministry, which then puts out the word to the membership (via Cuba's bandwidth limited, but prioritized internet system) to gain a consensus over whatever needs can be provided based upon the presented circumstances. Now, of course, if Fidel endorses or praises their mission it is considered by many to be a good compliment - based on his lifelong service to Cuba and Cubans.


The Cuban Ministry of health is an awesome group that should be a global model.


:hi:

[rabs]

13. Brigade up and running in Rancagua

?x=400&y=280&q=85&sig=BZmIRPUEl6hPaVFH2nDCBg--
A Cuban doctor attends Chilean Mario Ruz at a field hospital set up in Rancagua, Chile, Friday, March 5, 2010. A team of 26 Cuban doctors arrived Wednesday bringing 24 tons of aid to earthquake survivors such as carps, electricity-generating equipment, sterilizers to disinfect medical equipment, x-ray and operating equipment. An 8.8-magnitude earthquake struck central Chile on Feb. 27. (AP Photo/Carlos Espinoza)

I did not know that the Brigade and the Ministry of Health have the autonomy of action that you describe. (For me another result of the anti-Cuba disinformation over the years.)

But after your original post used google to find out more about this group and found article below that gives background, going back to Katrina.

http://www.cubainsideout.org/international/missions/henryreeves.shtml

Will look for article about the brigade in Rancagua and post.

Saludo.

[Mika]

15. Thanks for the updates.

Note that in my above post that I mentioned elected members of the CMoH, meaning that each municipal district has its own elected representative of the Ministry of Health. If the districts don't like the decisions made by their rep, then every 6 months their reps are subject to accountability elections (a recall election).


:hi:

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[rabs]

14. Cuban brigade set up in soccer complex

Looks like photo in previous post did not work. Here are more.

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http://www.elrancaguino.cl/news/
Twelve beds have been installed, but more can be added.

http://www.elrancaguino.cl/news/
Member of the Cuban group with Cuban ambassador Ileana Díaz-Argüelles to Chile and Chilean Health Minister.

http://www.elrancaguino.cl/news/
Chilean Health Minister Alvaro Erazo tours the field hospital.

http://www.elrancaguino.cl/news/
Cuban field hospital set up in a soccer field. There are two tents up.

Photos from El Rancagüino Online, a newspaper in Rancagua, Chile.

Story in Spanish

http://www.elrancaguino.cl/news/en-cancha-de-complejo-patricio-mekis-funciona-hospital-de-campana-de-cuba/

[Mika]

16. Thanks again. BTW, your link isn't working for me.

F-ing Comcast! :banghead:


:hi:

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[rabs]

18. Okay, let's do it this way

Can't let Comcast not let you see something :-)

The other option is google

el rancaguino chile

and the page should pop up.

but just in case, pasting most of the article.

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En cancha de complejo Patricio Mekis funciona hospital de campaña de Cuba
Marzo 5, 2010 por Luis Fernando Gonzalez

Con 12 camas –cifra que se puede ampliar- cuenta el hospital de campaña.Flor Vásquez/ Fotos:

Nico Carrasco
En la cancha número uno del complejo Patricio Mekis comenzó a funcionar el hospital de campaña de Cuba, con 27 profesionales de ese país -11 de ellos, médicos de diversas especialidades-, quienes realizarán diversas atenciones de urgencia, practicarán variadas cirugías y atenderán patologías tales como fracturas, apendicitis, hernias y problemas de vesícula, entre otras.
La puesta en marcha de este centro asistencial de emergencia se realizó ayer, aproximadamente a las 11 horas, con la presencia del Ministro de Salud, Alvaro Erazo; la embajadora de Cuba en Chile, Ileana Díaz-Argüelles; un representante de la OPS; el director del Servicio de Salud, Marcelo Yévenes; el Seremi de Salud, Genaro González; el director del Hospital Regional, Sergio Zamorano; el alcalde de Rancagua, Eduardo Soto y otras autoridades.
En la oportunidad, el jefe de la delegación médica cubana, Juan Carlos Andux, explicó algunos aspectos operativos del hospital de campaña, destacando la experiencia del equipo médico y su disposición a trabajar y colaborar con Chile, especialmente con la comunidad de la Región de O’Higgins, en esta emergencia que se está viviendo tras el cataclismo de la madrugada del sábado.

Integrantes de la brigada médica cubana, junto a la embajadora de Cuba en Chile, el Ministro de Salud y otras autoridades.La embajadora Ileana Díaz-Argüelles expresó su solidaridad con el pueblo chileno; acotando que Cuba no podía dejar de colaborar, en este caso con un hospital de campaña y un experimentado equipo de profesionales.
Por su parte, el ministro Erazo agradeció el aporte de Cuba; agregando que en la salud no hay fronteras y que el compromiso es con la salud de las personas.
La brigada cubana cuenta con 11 médicos de medicina general integral, terapia intensiva, cirugía, ortopedia, medicina interna, anestesia y otras especialidades; a lo que se agregan enfermeros intensivistas, instrumentistas, circulantes, técnicos de rayos X, de farmacia, electromedicina y banco de sangre.
El equipo médico pertenece a la agrupación Henry Reeve y está especializado en situaciones de desastres y graves epidemias. Esta brigada médica estuvo ayudando en la emergencia ocurrida en Haití y también ha estado en China, Pakistán, Guatemala, Indonesia y Bolivia.

Ministro Erazo
“En las próximas semanas comenzará reparación de Hospital Regional Rancagua”


El Ministro Erazo recorrió las instalaciones del hospital de emergencia.

El Ministro de Salud, Alvaro Erazo, afirmó que los dos edificios del Hospital Regional no tienen problemas estructurales, según determinaron profesionales especialistas en el tema. No obstante, reconoció que las dependencias tienen daños importantes y que en las próximas semanas se iniciarán las reparaciones.
Agregó que actualmente el principal centro asistencial de la región está funcionando “a un quinto de su capacidad hospitalaria desde el punto de vista de camas y con el 50 por ciento de las camas críticas”, por lo que el hospital de campaña de Cuba permitirá manejar mejor esta emergencia, ya que “cuenta con 12 camas - y se puede ampliar a 20-, tratamiento intensivo e intermedio, además de médicos especialistas, uno de los cuales ya ha ido a hacer cirugías a otros hospitales de la red asistencial”.
Subrayó que ésta es una situación de transición y que para una siguiente fase se instalará hospitales modulares, en aquellos casos en que los establecimientos hospitalarios hayan quedado inhabilitados a raíz de los daños ocasionados por el terremoto.

[Mika]

19. Gracias.

:thumbsup: :thumbsup:

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[Mika]

17. Health Professionals from Sancti Spiritus (Cuba) Help in Chile

Health Professionals from Sancti Spiritus Help in Chile
http://www.escambray.cu/Eng/Special/chile1003031048

Health professionals from the central Cuban province of Sancti Spiritus left for Chile Tuesday as part of the Henry Reeve medical brigade to help in areas struck by the earthquake and tsunami that hit this South American nation.

According to Dr. Damaris Seara Martínez, head of the Health Cooperation Department in this province, the medical team is made up of two technicians and one nurse, all of whom have already worked under similar situations in other countries.

When referring to the work they will be faced with in Chile, Dr. Seara highlighted the internationalist meaning of the Cuban health workers’ cooperation and praised what is being done by other 22 health professionals in Haiti, including ten students from the Latin American Medical School.

Some other professionals are ready to leave for Chile to work in a field hospital, added Seara.

Some 500 health workers from Sancti Spiritus are currently members of the Henry Reeve International Health Contingent

[Judi Lynn]

20. Great info. on the Henry Reeve Brigade. Kicking.

:kick: :kick: :kick: :kick: :kick: :kick: