Cuban Mobile Surgery in
Guatemala
Cuban physicians are to
open Monday in Quiche
the first mobile
surgical unit so
low-income people from
that remote northwestern
Guatemalan department
can recover vision their
vision for free.
The surgical unit will
be installed in the
Nebaj Hospital, 2,000
meters above sea level,
and this will allow to
extend ophthalmologic
services, Larissa
Chacon, vice coordinator
of the Medical Brigade
for Operation Miracle
stated.
Nebaj, Chajul and Cotzal
belong to the so-called
Ixil Triangle, one of
the most distant and
hard-hit zones during
the internal armed
conflict in this
country.
"The aim is to declare
the Ixil region free of
preventable blindness,"
said Chacon.
The physicians will be
there for one or two
months, visit
communities, offer
medical consultations to
detect several
affections and provide
ophthalmological surgery
for patients suffering
from cataracts,
granulated tissues and
other afflictions, he
noted.
About 19,647 Guatemalans
have received
ophthalmologic surgery
and that figure is
expected to surpass this
year 27,000, reported
the representative of
Operation Miracle, a
Cuban-Venezuelan program
to return sight to
millions of people
throughout the world. |
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