Holguin to Improve Health Care System
- Written by Lourdes Pichs Rodríguez
- Published in Health
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Photos: Radio Agulo-Hospital Lenin Twitter AccountIn meeting to assess the results achieved in 2017, health authorities in the province of Holguin focused their debates on the analysis of the difficulties faced in the stage and set work priorities for this year, aimed at improving the welfare of the population and quality of services received. Participants established as priority the recovering of the founding concepts of the Family Nurse and Doctor program, created by the Commander in Chief Fidel Castro and implemented since 1985, with the aim to provide health care and assistance to each patient and family in the country, applying a clinical-epidemiological and social approach.
In his opening speech, Dr. Jose Angel Portal Miranda, Deputy Minister of Public Health, said that the Cuban health system stands out for its Primary Health Care (PHC) system, so there can be no ruptures in its conception. "The Basic Work and Health Groups and their leaders are the cornerstone of this program, and when these fail in their work, the results are not favorable and the state of health of the population is modified".
Portal Miranda referred to the difficulties faced in Primary Health Care in Holguin, where 65 doctor’s offices are improperly occupied, which prevents the permanence of doctors in the community where they work. In addition, some 465 of these offices present structural problems that make it impossible to comply with procedures, and only 36 percent of polyclinics use thrombolysis, among other deficiencies.
Regarding the Mother and Child Care Program, it was highlighted the mortality rate of 3.3 per thousand live births achieved in the country; nevertheless, the province was indicated as the one with the most pregnancies in adolescence, while registering the high number of abortions and reproductive risks.Special attention required the analysis of the increase in general mortality, as well as that of the first 10 causes of death, nine are related by non-communicable diseases, all of which can be reduced or avoided by modifying unhealthy lifestyles and the quality of medical care, based on greater control and monitoring.
However, the major problem in this northeastern territory of Cuba is related to the anti-vector program. The municipality of Holguín has the highest presence of the Aedes aegypti mosquito and therefore the cases of dengue disease, hence the need to increase efforts in order to resolve this situation.
The meeting served to recognize outstanding health workers and services provided by the Neonatology units of the Lenin and the Octavio de la Concepción de la Pedraja hospitals, the Mother and Child Care Program and the health system of the municipality of Rafael Freyre, which reported zero deaths in children under one year of age.
