Feature: Frontline healthcare workers help Cuba win battle against pandemic

Source: Xinhua| 2020-07-01 14:15:13|Editor: huaxia

by Yosley Carrero

HAVANA, July 1 (Xinhua) -- Jose Alberto Rodriguez began work early in the morning at the Pedro Kouri Institute of Tropical Medicine (IPK) in the outskirts of Cuba's capital Havana, where a COVID-19 hospital was set up by the government.

The 35-year-old doctor, who graduated from a medical school in 2010, was on call on March 11 when Cuba's first COVID-19 cases were confirmed and transferred to the hospital.

Ever since, every two weeks Rodriguez and his colleagues are taken to a nearby hostel for quarantine before family reunions.

"Isolation of suspected cases and healthcare workers on the frontline has been a crucial feature of Cuba's successful strategy of tackling the virus," Rodriguez told Xinhua.

The dail increase in COVID-19 infections on the island have fallen from the peak of nearly 70 to fewer than 10 as all provinces, except Havana, have started to ease lockdown restrictions in line with Cuba's post-pandemic recovery plan.

Rodriguez said his duties at the hospital include giving medication to patients, detecting their symptoms, intubating them if necessary and ensuring "people infected with COVID-19 do not feel alone despite social distancing measures."

Every day after work, with the mask's impressions on his face, Rodriguez goes straight to the shower for disinfection.

"I am supposed to deal better with death due to my training as a medical doctor, but this has been the most challenging experience of my professional career," Rodriguez said.

"We have saved many lives, but some people have died and that is something I cannot forget," he added.

Founded in 1937, the IPK has become one of the top institutions in the Cuban public health system, comprising a hospital and a research complex of laboratories for the study of exotic diseases.

The institute serves as Cuba's pandemic command center.

Manuel Romero, director of the IPK, said the institute has been a pillar in training Cuban healthcare workers and combating the pandemic abroad.

"We have carried out most of the COVID-19 tests in the country, in addition to training and strengthening the work of the national network of laboratories on the island," Romero told the Cuban News Agency.

The nearly 160-bed COVID-19 hospital at the IPK meets international sanitary standards and biosafety protocols in accordance with the World Health Organization's guidelines.

The healthcare workers and non-medical personnel at the IPK have had an unprecedented workload since the pandemic hit the Caribbean nation.

Among them is Jorge Valdes, 34, a Cuban doctor who strongly believed that early detection of suspected cases across the country was decisive in tackling the epidemic.

"We are winning the battle against the virus, and border control will be a fundamental factor to avoid a second outbreak in the coming months," he told Xinhua.

"We should also get accustomed to wearing face masks," said Valdes, adding "I have been in the eye of the storm. The virus is beatable."

Since the start of the pandemic, over 2,200 COVID-19 patients have been discharged from medical centers, according to Cuban health authorities.

One new COVID-19 case was reported on Tuesday, bringing the national tally to 2,341, with a death toll of 86. Enditem

KEY WORDS:
EXPLORE XINHUANET
010020070750000000000000011102121391803101