Havana, February 12 (ACN) Cuban collaborators from the “Henry Reeve” international contingent of doctors specialized in disaster situations and major epidemics arrived in Türkiye today to save lives and assist in the recovery of victims of the devastating earthquake in Havana population of this country and of Syria.
Read: Cuban Doctors in Sister Country
One of the members of the team of 32 professionals is Dr. Ruber Ortiz Legra, a specialist in comprehensive general medicine (MGI) with a diploma in intensive therapy and adult care, who told the Cuban News Agency (ACN) that his third internationalist mission.
In 2013 he was in Venezuela and in 2020 he was part of the Henry Reeve contingent brigade supporting the people of Azerbaijan against COVID-19, as he specified in the Central Unit for Medical Cooperation, before traveling to the Turkish nation.
When we arrived in Azerbaijan, he said, the impact was enormous, especially because it was a different culture and language, but as Cubans we knew how to take on this challenge and get involved in the work of its professionals.
For the doctor from Matanzas, this experience will help him do a better job in Türkiye, where they will once again promote the name of Cuba and its medicine, he assured.
Yordys Lázaro Medero Batista, an MGI specialist with degrees in critical care medicine and adult emergency medicine, told ACN that being part of Henry Reeve’s contingent is one of the greatest satisfactions for a revolutionary Cuban doctor today.
“Incorporating one of their brigades was a goal for me and now a dream has come true. I hope to do my best in Türkiye, a sister city that needs our help,” said the doctor from Mayabeque province.
He pointed out that this was his first internationalist mission, although he had received a lot of preparation and feedback based on the experiences of his colleagues: “I just have to hold my chest up and save lives.”
A powerful earthquake struck the nations of Türkiye and Syria on Monday, February 6, followed by powerful aftershocks that collapsed infrastructure and left thousands trapped under rubble.
Since its inception in 2005, the Henry Reeve Contingent has covered earthquake-affected populations in Pakistan (2005), Indonesia (2006), Peru (2007), China (2008), Haiti (2010), Chile (2010), and Nepal ( 2015), Ecuador (2016) and Mexico (2017).