The Roundtable TV program addressed the actions of Cuban medicine against Covid-19.
HAVANA, Cuba.- The best experiences at international and national level, as well as the contribution of collaborators abroad and scientists, add to Cuba’s protocol of action for the treatment of Covid-19, Dr. Ricardo Pereda, Coordinator of the Group of Experts of the Ministry of Public Health, highlighted in the Roundtable TV program.
The specialist in Critical Care Medicine emphasized that Cuba has gotten ahead of the times, and consequently applies therapeutics and combinations of medicines, as it is a disease with which time cannot be wasted, and the main objective is to preserve life.
Dr. Pereda referred in the Roundtable the national plan for the confrontation of the new coronavirus, which has strengthened the narrowest levels of surveillance.
Feedback between medical teams has influenced to a higher quality patient care, the expert said.
Protecting Children
The Master of Science Lissette del Rosario Lopez, head of the National Pediatric Group, explained in the Roundtable how attention develops to children and adolescents who infected with Covid-19.
The expert explained that since the beginning of the disease it was said worldwide that children were the least vulnerable group to the virus; and in Cuba, 11 per cent of the total number of patients with the new coronavirus corresponds to children and adolescents up to 18 years old.
Speaking at the Roundtable TV program, Dr. Lopez further specified that most of pediatric patients have milder symptoms than adults when they contract the virus.
However, the expert called for social discipline and self-care, mainly for adolescents, because although children are not severely affected by the virus, they can contribute to spreading the disease.
Quality of Pediatric Services in Cuba
Master of Science Lissette del Rosario Lopez, head of the National Pediatric Group, reported that until April 19, there were 124 patients up to 18 years old diagnosed with Covid-19 in Cuba.
Dr. Lopez explained in the Roundtable TV program that in these patients the manifestations of the disease are variable, and more than 70 percent are asymptomatic, who have been detected from active research.
From this, the expert called on the family to raise the perception of risk to the virus, and doctors in primary health care to be aware of any symptoms such as diarrhea, abdominal pain, rash, fever or sneezing.
The expert further pointed out that health services are dedicated to detect the virus, despite the very variable symptoms it may present in minors.
Timely Treatment
The Head of the National Pediatrics Group highlighted in the Roundtable the pediatric care of the health services at military hospitals, which include in the team to critical care doctors, pediatricians and family doctors.
Dr. Lopez indicated that only two underage patients have needed intensive services; one of them is a 9-months girl who required ventilation, but that at the moment maintains an evolution according to what was expected.
The specialist emphasized the issue of vaccination and the need to continue that protocol, in order to continue protecting children from other diseases.
Dr. Lopez reported that only the polio vaccination campaign will be postponed, but the rest will go ahead through mechanisms created in polyclinics and health care facilities to minimize risks in the little ones.
We´re Going to Win This Battle
Dr. Daniel Gonzalez, specialist of Internal Medicine of the Pedro Kouri Institute of Tropical Medicine, explained in the Roundtable TV program that studies on Covid-19 appear every day, and Cuba has an obligation to analyze them very carefully, and apply the principle of not discarding anything.
The virus remains the protagonist, without it there is no disease or serious cases, Dr. Gonzalez said, and referred to its possible stages, characteristics and treatments, among other clarifications.
The expert emphasized that at Pedro Kouri Institute of Tropical Medicine there are a large number of people with risk factors, and have not reached the status of severe, which is precisely due to the protocol of action applied in Cuba.
The clash of Covid-19 is unprecedented, we work tirelessly, and we´re going to win this war, he said.