Nairobi, July 17. The Cuban brigade belongs to the Henry Reeve International Contingent of Doctors Specialized in Disaster Situations and Serious Epidemics arrived in Nairobi this July 17 to support the response in this African country to the pandemic caused by the new coronavirus SARS-CoV-2, causing Covid-19 disease.
The brigade is made up of 20 specialists in Intensive Care; Anesthesiology; Internal Medicine; Pediatrics; Endocrinology, Cardiology and Nephrology; and they will join Kenya's efforts to stop the spread of the pandemic that has killed more than 220 people among the more than 12,000 infected.
Since Covid-19 disease was declared a pandemic by the World Health Organization last March 11, dozens of Cuban medical brigades have voluntarily traveled to countries on various continents, responding to requests from their governments, for the sole purpose to save lives.
The Cuban medical professionals were received at “Jomo Kenyatta” international airport by Dr. Rashid Aman, Chief Administrative Secretary of the Ministry of Health and by Dr. Eva Njenga, chairperson of the Kenya Medical Practitioners and Dentist Council, among other health leaders of the country. On the Cuban side, Ambassador Ernesto Gómez Díaz and Dr. Damodar Peña Pentón, coordinator of the Cuban Medical Brigade in Kenya, went to the air terminal.
The arrival of Cuban doctors in Nairobi had a positive impact in different media and our doctors were warmly welcomed at the airport and at the Kenyatta University Hospital in this capital. Since June 2018, a Cuban medical brigade has provided its services in most of the counties of this East African country, deserving the love and respect of patients and the authorities.
Embassy of Cuba