HAVANA (Héctor Maseda, Grupo Decoro) – Reniel Zequeira del
Valle, a 37-year-old doctor, returned to Cuba from Africa like someone with the
plague.
Authorities in her own country and those of Zambia ignored the work of this
doctor who spent three years in the African nation, saving thousands of lives
under difficult conditions and even being forced to use techniques that were not
her area of expertise.
"At the beginning of 1998 I was selected and joined a medical brigade
composed of 150 persons," Zequeira said. "We traveled to our new
destination in March: Lusaka, the capital. When we arrived, we learned of the
agreement between the two governments: Zambia would pay each specialist $1,200
and $1,000 to the general practioners. My first deception was to learn that 50
percent of the payment would be given to the Cuban government, while we would do
all the work in distant places, incommunicado and with a minimum of facilities."
The mountainous town of Nynye, where Zequeira was first assigned, has a
population of 3,000 and is 780 kilometers from Lusaka. It lacks the most
elemental services. Food must be bought in a town 70 kilometers distant. The
Nynye Mission Christian Hospital where Zequeira worked for nine months had 50
beds.
"The living quarters assigned us had electricity, but we weren’t
allowed to listen to music, smoke or drink alcoholic beverages. Nor was there
any television set in the recreational areas. The hospital staff consisted of
another female Cuban doctor, a Congolese doctor, a Zambian doctor and me. We
looked after hundreds of patients a day. We handled diseases we’d never
heard of".
According to Zequeira, there were differences between the Cuban doctors and
the other foreign doctors, who received preferential treatment from local
authorities.
"The other doctors received an additional monthly payment of $1,000 and
had a car for their private use. We were looked upon with suspicion by the
hospital administration and with professional jealousy by the other doctors.
After a while, we were doing all the work. At first they provided us with
transportation to buy food and other necessities. Then they stopped. Personal
and professional conditions became impossible."
After going to the capital to complain to the Cuban mission there, the two
doctors were assigned to a sanitarium in Kalomo, where they worked for 23
months.
They returned to Cuba June 20.
"Nobody saw us off in Zambia," said Zequeira, "There were no
signs of thanks or courtesy for three years and three months of work in that
country. But greater was our surprise when this was repeated in Cuba. Nobody
came to receive us. The Committee for the Defense of the Revolution on my block
didn ’t even know I had returned."
Versión
original en español
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