Havana, Cuba.- Cuba exhibits this Monday one of its greatest achievements in public health by counting over 6,000 kidney transplants since February 24, 1970.

For these procedures Cuba has nine centers, in addition to a network of 56 regionally distributed nephrological services and closely attached to over 400 polyclinics and 13,000 family doctor’s offices.

The basis of the care system lies in the offices, where doctors can prevent, control risk factors and investigate the affected patient early, said Dr. Raul Herrera, Head of the National Nephrology Group at a press conference on the 50th anniversary of the first kidney transplant in Cuba.

On February 24, 1970, a 23-year-old man became the first Cuban with a successfully transplanted kidney and from there many people have been benefited.

Currently, in the network of nephrological units, 3,500 patients are treated by dialysis, from which those in need of such intervention emerge, Herrera explained.

Meanwhile, Dr. Mario Antonio Enamorado, head of the National Transplant Office, stressed that in the last five years in Cuba, organ donations were achieved through which some 900 people benefited from renal replacement.

Experts estimate that in Cuba approximately one million people suffer from the disease.