Cuban medical team vows to continue support in quake zone

ISTANBUL

A 32-member Cuban medical team, including 19 specialized doctors, has been rendering their services in the quake zone along with Turkish physicians, vowing they will keep doing so for as long as the Turkish people need.

After the massive Kahramanmaraş-centered quakes severely rattled Türkiye’s south and claimed the lives of thousands of people, Cubans were among several foreign teams that rushed to the country’s help.

The Cuban medical team, which includes experts who also volunteered in disasters in Pakistan, Peru, Haiti and the Ebola outbreak, is working with their Turkish colleagues in Kahramanmaraş for the earthquake survivors. The team has 19 physicians with specialties in different fields and nine paramedics.

Cuban Ambassador Alejandro Francisco Diaz Palacios, who accompanied the team in the field, expressed his condolences to Türkiye for the loss of life and stated that they consider Türkiye as a brotherly country.

“We can define it as the disaster of the century. In the face of this catastrophe, the Cuban state could not stand by and do nothing. It was a moral obligation to show our friendship and solidarity,” he added.

Dr. Juan Carlos Dupuy Núñez, the chief of the medical team, stated that they came to Türkiye with a professional team and joined forces with the Turkish physicians, sharing their techniques and experiences with each other.

Núñez added that they treated hundreds of patients together with the Turkish physicians and that they also used antibiotics, painkillers and medical supplies they brought from Cuba.

Meanwhile, Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel Bermudez made a statement on Feb. 20 about the Cuban medical team’s work in Türkiye.

“We embrace our dear doctors. We are very proud of you, and we continue to keep up with what you are doing in Türkiye. Cuba admires and loves you,” Bermudez said.