HAVANA, November 13 (Regina del Sol, AIDH / www.cubanet.org) - Pablo Praga
will have his remaining leg amputated due to repeated delays in treating the
gangrene in his foot.
Praga first went to the hospital in Güines, a town south of Havana,
November 7. Doctors decided to amputate one of his toes, but there were no beds
available, so he was told to report back five days later, on November 12.
Surgery was scheduled for the next day, but after waiting in three different
lines, for admissions, routine tests, and at the blood bank, where he had to
certify that someone had donated blood on his behalf, he was told by the surgeon
that he wasn't sure they could operate because the blood bank had run out of
blood. Surgery was rescheduled for the 15th.
"The surgeon told us the car that collects the blood came back empty
because there is no blood in the central bank," said Praga's sister. When
asked where the blood donated on Praga's behalf by his relatives went, officials
at the hospital said enigmatically, "This is a system."
Praga's sister said "Due to bureaucratic snafus at the Ministry of
Public Health, my brother will lose his leg, since the gangrene has affected his
whole foot. Now instead of a toe they will amputate his leg over the knee."
Praga had already lost his other leg, his sister said, because he is a
diabetic and, due to the chronic scarcity of food, he cannot observe an adequate
diet.
The case of another patient, Emilio, 70, is similar. He went to the same
hospital on November 8 with gangrene on one foot, but there was no room for him
until the 12th. By that time, the infection was up to his hip.
Emilio is a widower and has no children. His sister-in-law, who takes care
of him, said "I don't know how much they are going to amputate."
Versión
original en español
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