Bolivians appreciate Cuban medical brigade's work

Chabelita, as Viscarra's relatives call her, is one of the thousands of Bolivian women who recovered their sight thanks to Operation Miracle, when in 2008 she was diagnosed with cataracts.

'I was diagnosed with cataracts in both eyes. The cost of treatment was 2,000 dollars and although I do not deny the ability of our ophthalmologists and professional teams here, I did not have that amount of money. So I said to myself, why am I taking so long to consult and not going to the Cuban ophthalmologists all at once? And that's how it was,' she told Correo magazine of ALBA.

The Cuban Medical Brigade in Bolivia would again play an important role in Viscarra's life on two other occasions, in 2014 when she dislocated her shoulder due to a fall, and in 2019 due to an atypical pneumonia, and she was assisted by Cuban doctors.

Like Chabelita, thousands of Bolivians found solutions to health issues in the work of doctors, nurses, and other healthcare personnel in Cuba, who in the absence of local personnel took on the task of saving lives, especially in rural areas.

Official data from Cuba's Ministry of Public Health indicate that the country's medical mission provided services as part of the scientific-technical cooperation deal signed between the two countries in 1985, and which was updated in subsequent years.

According to that deal, until November 2019, 18,015 healthcare professionals had worked in Bolivia, giving 73,557,935 medical consultations.

Surgeons performed 1, 533,160 surgeries, 727,138 of which were ophthalmological, and delivered 60,792 babies.