The Cuban Medical Brigade in Guatemala marks today the 17th anniversary of the arrival of the first physicians from the Caribbean country to this territory, after the disaster caused by Hurricane Mitch in 1998.
Since then, the Cuban health professionals carried out more than 38,994,558 consultations, even in the most remote and inhospitable places, where they assisted an average rate of 2,293,797 Guatemalans.
 
According to Dr. Manolo Torres Sobrino, national coordinator of the Cuban Medical Brigade in Guatemala, in recent years, the collaborators service included areas such as gynecology, ophthalmology, prenatal care, as well as training midwives, community leaders and work teams. He recalled that just 48 hours were enough for the first 19 collaborators who started this mission to rehabilitate the Hospital de la Tinta, in the northern department of Alta Verapaz, and begin providing medical assistance to the population affected by Hurricane Mitch.
 
"About 450 Cuban physicians, technicians and nurses are working in Guatemala, 395 of them belong to the Comprehensive Health Program and 55 to the Operation Miracle program, which is equivalent to 87.7 percent and 12.2 percent, respectively," he noted, in conversation with Prensa Latina.
 
Mitch, one of the most powerful and deadly hurricanes of the 20th century, passed through Central America from October 22 to November 5, 1998, and left nearly 11,000 people dead, about 8,000 missed, and billions of dollars in material losses.