This December 3, the people and Government of Cuba celebrate the Day of the Latin American Medicine, which was instituted in tribute to the doctor Carlos Juan Finlay, an eminent Cuban scientist born this day in 1833, discoverer of the mosquito that transmits the yellow fever.
Covid-19 plagues the world, and the health personnel in Latin American and tge Caribbean countries have been the first line of care, exposed to extreme circumstances to carry out their work, higher risk of infection, long working hours, in many cases without the proper equipment and facing anguish, fatigue, occupational exhaustion, but this does not prevent them from standing firm in their oath to save human lives.
The Ministry of Public Health of Cuba executes an inter-sector plan together with the Civil Defense, approved by the central authorities, called the Plan to Confront COVID-19, which establishes, among the main priorities, the strengthening of national epidemiological surveillance for early identification of cases.
In addition, international sanitary control measures are implemented at all points of entry into the country.
The epidemiological surveillance is based on the network of health services at the first level of care. Through the community offices of the family doctor and nurse, and the voluntary action of university students of health sciences, regular home visits are made in each area.
The Pedro Kourí Institute of Tropical Medicine (IPK) coordinates the network of Public Health laboratories in the country, through which the diagnostic capacity of COVID-19 is decentralized.
The work of physicians is more than the direct care for COVID-19 patients. Their tasks also consist of caring for the health of the population, through education, prevention and promotion activities; In addition, they perform tasks such as identifying cases, looking for their contacts, taking and analyzing diagnostic tests, among other additional actions to their daily work, both in clinics and hospitals, and in the community.
