Maputo, Mozambique.- Cuban maxillofacial surgeon Osdany Cancio participated in the medical team that pulled out a four-kilogram tumor lodged in the neck of a pregnant Mozambican woman, Cuban diplomatic sources said today.

The complex surgery took place on June 13 and was successfully concluded, the source announced, reporting the participation of anesthesiologists, nurses and assistants from the Caribbean nation, who cooperate in the province of Tete, in the northwest of the country.

The tumor had a four-year history, but during pregnancy it obstructed the patient’s airway, and she was unable to swallow in addition to the weight she carried.

The director of the Tete Provincial Hospital, Lidia Cunha, said that before the surgery, the doctors had carried out complementary studies to avoid any type of complication.

By the fifth month of gestation, the woman would have twins.

Geronimo Brilao, a Mozambican maxillofacial surgeon who was part of the team, said the surgery took 10 hours and ran smoothly.

He added this is the first surgical intervention of its kind in the hospital. A sample of what was extracted, he noted, was sent to Beira’s Central Hospital for anatomopathological diagnosis.

Meanwhile, six Cuban aid workers in Xai Xai offered some 300 consultations in the village Fidel Castro to salute the assault on the Moncada and Carlos Manuel de Cespedes headquarters, an action led by the leader of the Cuban Revolution and a group of young people on July 26, 1953.

The health day was held on the past 21st and was supported by two Mozambican doctors and the Provincial Health Directorate in Gaza, who facilitated the medicines, instruments and supplies required.

The action was part of the celebrations of the Cuban Embassy in Mozambique for that anniversary, which in Cuba is considered the National Rebelion Day.