The First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party and President of the Republic, Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez, today highlighted the invaluable contributions to Cuban medicine made by the North American organization Operation Walk.
“Their work has been and will always be a bridge for cooperation and solidarity between peoples,” he emphasized in a letter received on Tuesday by the members of the medical group from the hands of the Minister of Public Health, Dr. José Angel Portal Miranda.
The First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party and President of the Republic, Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez, today highlighted the invaluable contributions to Cuban medicine made by the North American organization Operation Walk.
“Their work has been and will always be a bridge for cooperation and solidarity between peoples,” he emphasized in a letter received on Tuesday by the members of the medical group from the hands of the Minister of Public Health, Dr. José Angel Portal Miranda.
Upon receiving the 63 members of Operation Walk, Portal Miranda confirmed: “the trust, commitment, dedication, and professionalism with which they have operated on Cuban patients, benefiting from this humanistic work.”
The Minister stressed the value of the work of the American health workers, “which is combined with the international scientific exchange they promote during their stay, to break down barriers of hatred and isolation in the world.”
Precisely in gratitude for this gesture of solidarity to restore quality of life to the Caribbean people, the President of the Cuban Academy of Sciences, Dr. Cs. Luis Velázquez Pérez to two distinguished members and leaders of this mission, Paul Keith Gilbert and Mary Ellen Sieben, the 150th Anniversary Medal of the Cuban Academy of Sciences.
It is also a space to praise, for his solidarity and selfless contribution to the health of the Cuban people, the performance and dedication of Dr. William Thomas Long, who received the status of “Corresponding Academician of the Cuban Academy of Sciences” on November 12.
Representing the members of Operation Walk, Dr. Paul Keith Gilbert expressed his emotional gratitude for the awards received and the embrace of the Cuban people.
“We are a big family and feel that way every year in Havana,” he said while praising the pride of his colleagues, who in 2024 achieved a figure of more than 50 surgical interventions, thus giving hope and a better quality of life to those who need it most.
In the end, the members of Operation Walk presented a plaque of recognition to the head of Public Health, Dr. José Angel Portal Miranda, and to Dr. Roberto Balmaseda, director of the Fructuoso Rodríguez Teaching Orthopedic Hospital and coordinator in Cuba of this charitable organization, for their support and accompaniment in their solidarity work in favor of life.
