The humane work of a Cuban doctor

The experience of providing services in Venezuela left its mark on Cuban cardiologist Daysi Luperon Loforte, who worked in the municipality of El Tigre, in the state of Anzoátegui, from 2006 to 2010

The experience of providing services in Venezuela left its mark on Cuban cardiologist Daysi Luperon Loforte, who worked in the municipality of El Tigre, in the state of Anzoátegui, from 2006 to 2010.

For 23 years, she has worked as a doctor, specializing in clinical cardiology since 2000. She is currently on the staff of the Hermanos Ameijeiras Clinical and Surgical Hospital in Havana.
Speaking to Granma International, Dr. Loforte stressed that Cuban doctors are committed to working in the homeland of Bolívar, participating in momentous political events, while accompanying the Venezuelan people in their struggle for national sovereignty.

“I lived in a very dynamic society, with structural social changes. I joined the Barrio Adentro (Inside the Neighborhood) medical assistance program, for the investigation of diseases in the population, the Miracle Mission for the diagnosis and surgical treatment of eye diseases, and the José Gregorio Hernández Mission, to identify people with disabilities,” the doctor explained.

She worked in the Ernesto Che Guevara Advanced Technology Center, where she had the opportunity to use the latest equipment for the evaluation and monitoring of diseases. Here she studied and trained in order to make rational and optimal use of the equipment.

“I remember assessing a young Venezuelan with dilated cardiomyopathy due to Chagas disease,” she recalled, “On conducting the clinical examination and then applying an electrocardiogram, I realized that his heart was functioning at 7% of its capacity, incompatible with life.”

She told of meeting adults who never suspected they had a heart disease. They would arrive at her consultation room suffering from shortness of breath and it would become clear they were in the final stages of an illness.

“Another patient with precordial chest pain comes to mind. When I examined him, his aorta was severed, with the walls split into two. This constitutes a high risk to life. He needed immediate surgery costing $2,500, luckily it was paid for by a state clinic,” she explained.

“This experience demonstrates the need for a public health system, which from an early age ensures diagnosis and follows the progress of any condition, with a specialized hospital network to support medical treatment, so that steps can be taken to ensure a patient never unknowingly reaches the later stages of an illness,” the cardiologist concluded.

She speaks with passion about her research on cardiotoxicity caused by drugs applied to patients suffering from cancer. She works with a group of colleagues on consultations that are a national reference, to establish treatment protocols in order to reduce heart diseases in these patients.

At present, Dr. Daysi Luperon Loforte is providing services in a Bolivian hospital, where she instructs local doctors on Cuban experiences in cardiology.

Nurse Adoración Jenki Pomares, one of her colleagues in Havana, describes Daysi‘s human qualities as excellent, and states that she admires her dedication to her work and her good nature. She notes that her regular patients were distributed among other specialists at the Havana hospital, when she left, and remain under medical supervision.

She also praises the cardiologist’s extensive professional knowledge, a testament to the many hours she has dedicated to study and research.

Technologist Miguel Sánchez Bernal, the union representative in the area, agrees: “Upon receipt of the names of those workers volunteering to collaborate in other countries, we vouch for the ethical values of the compañeros in their daily tasks, and we choose the best. We also attend to their family, when one of our colleagues fulfils their internationalist duty.”

Dr. Daysi Luperon Loforte is just one example of the more than 50,000 health collaborators, including 25,000 doctors, who provide services in 67 countries across the world.

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