CAMAGÜEY.- The antecedents of a representative health institution in Camagüey and Cuba, such as the María Curie teaching cancer hospital, date back to 1941. At that time, the will of the League Against Cancer to overcome the disease was real. However, the support of neocolonial governments was null.

With a total of four services and dedicated attention to the gradual progress of patients, the center today constitutes one of those great healers, materialized by the Cuban Revolution so that the beating of hearts does not stop.

This disease is one of the main causes of death on the planet, with an approximate figure of 10 million deceased and in the area of ​​the Americas about 1.4 million in the past 2020, according to figures from the Pan American Health Organization. In our country, it ranks second among the pathologies that cause the highest mortality.

But the “Maria Curie” does not believe in the impossible and its staff employs the technology and their valuable knowledge, despite the shortages and impediments caused by the blockade imposed by the United States since October 1961.

“We have the surgical room, the room for polychemotherapy treatment and the room for palliative care and radiotherapy. We have 100 beds and our workforce is covered by a total of 458 workers, 38 of them are doctors and the rest are nursing and service personnel ”, comments the deputy director of the center and medical assistance specialist, Carlos Alberti Rodríguez Reyna.

Against the pitfalls produced by the economic and commercial blockade, the self-sacrifice of the doctors redoubled their merit. Rodríguez Reyna reveals how these efforts are multiplying: “in chemotherapy, between 8,000 and 11,000 treatments are performed, and in radiotherapy there are approximately 2,500 and 3,000 per year. Also, annually, almost 50,000 outpatient, follow-up and new case consultations are offered ”.

The phrase "at fault" is opposed to the continuous search for solutions. The members of the Oncology Hospital recognize import substitution as an effective way to comply with the treatment protocols required for those seeking healing. In each room, the traces of adequate care and sensitivity that are displayed even under adverse circumstances are appreciated.

HEALING LIGHTS

The Second Degree specialist in Pathological Anatomy, Pedro Rosales Torres, is one of those warriors in white coats who always measures the potentialities of his trade: “if the US government lifted the restrictions on us, we would recover the activity and development of our laboratory. Here we carry out the tests that validate the presence of the disease, its prognosis and its evolution ”.

Standing before modern equipment, the also Master in Symptomatology refers to the commitment to process the results as soon as possible. "In these places we have high technology, obtained thanks to the wills of our nation, and we do everything possible to maintain it." He affirms that along with the diagnoses with a molecular approach, others of an immunochemical nature of cancer are analyzed.

In that broad chain that extends from the prognosis of the disease to the methods to combat it, imaging becomes a key to visualize the evil and attack it with the most reliable opinion and correct means.

"Although the effects of the blockade reduce the facilities to obtain medical supplies such as X-rays, contrasts, catheters and the chassis to exceed the capacity of our work, the daily cures of the patients do not stop," the imaging specialist said with ardor in his words Andrés Alberto Estrada García.

“We use variants, making a rational use of the clinical method and using ultrasound to replace elements of abdominal tomography. A full one, like we do it here, is between $ 600 or $ 800. When it is a more localized part of the body, there are around 300. Per day we perform an average of 10, not counting emergencies ”.

VITAL FIREPLACE

One of the busiest corridors in the facility is the one that leads to the radiotherapy room. A simple fact, such as the coming and going of those who need and provide that service, seems the easiest way to thank them. Years before, he had to be received in Villa Clara. At this time, cases from Camagüey, Ciego de Ávila, Las Tunas and other regions of Cuba are being treated.

“In 2018, several improvements were materialized, among them the telecobaltotherapy equipment, the superficial X-ray equipment and the cobalt radiotherapy equipment. Thus the spectrum of treatments grew. We have two teletherapy units, one of them is the Phoenix, an old unit that has been in existence for more than three decades of exploitation and that it is already at its limit ”, said René Madruga Torres, head of the radiotherapy department. The doctor added that the remanufacturing of that technology has been postponed due to economic complexities.

“Although electromedical doctors have lengthened their duration, parts have to be changed to regain mobility, the cover, the control cables ... and other damage.

“On many occasions, we feel the absence of gauze and plastic cannulae for radiation of patients with tracheostomy and those that we have we sterilize continuously. We use a number of different materials, although most of what we use to cure works with electricity. Here between 80 and 100 patients from all territories are treated daily ”.

The anticancer hospital, which in the past 2020 showed positive indicators by increasing its surgical plan to more than 110%, even under the appearance of COVID-19 on the international scene and the subsequent contagion in Cuban citizens, shields its effectiveness in the recognition of pathology.

Adriel Mederos Matos, head of clinical oncology services, reflects on this matter and its benefits for the inhabitants of the Greater Antilles.

“An admission for chemotherapy, in other countries, has a very high cost. Not only for the income, but for the medications and services provided. It is a process that commonly involves six cycles of chemotherapy and could easily run up to $ 12,000.

“The ward has two main sections: the ambulatory treatment section, with 20 beds, and the hospitalized section, which has 16. In the initial case, it offers us the possibility of accommodating 180 to 200 people a week. The correct functioning of our care is hit by the shortage of drugs with antitumor effect and essential supplements such as Mannitol are necessary to be able to administer cisplatin, and the absence of 5-fluorouracil, a cytostatic that is applied to hospitalized patients ”.

Within that facility, where care for life is extreme, COVID-19 is also effectively fought. Each of the accesses to the different cubicles and consultations are supported by the chlorinated solution and the foot steps, essential "firewalls" of the virus that currently affects humanity.

In one of the recovery rooms was the 62-year-old Ricardo Marrero Mora. Since 2020 he has been fighting a prostate adenocarcinoma. He was accompanied by his wife, Iraida Laguardia Vidal, who stated: “They have given us excellent care, so often the medical staff makes a tour to check how everything is going and in general we are satisfied with the treatment and conditions of the site. He should have received the Zoladex injections, but now they are in short supply in the country. However, with radiotherapy, medications and good care from doctors he has evolved well ”.

Neither the walls nor the restrictions will break his dreams of appreciating the glow of health on her husband's face. It is the light that our Revolution puts at the service of the people, of the healing of the human being, its fundamental lifeblood.

Translated by Linet Acuña Quilez