Source: Granma, April 4th, 2011
About thirty people per day benefit from the work of Cuban doctors at the Eye Hospital in El Alto, said the center's director, Barbara Gonzalez.
According to data of the Cuban medical brigade in the Andean nation, specialists have performed 82,000 operations and 91,000 consultations since arriving in El Alto, in the department of La Paz, reports Prensa Latina.
Under the Operation Miracle program, initiated in November 2006, Caribbean professionals who work at this center provide free care to low-income people from the city of La Paz and Peruvians and Chileans as well, said Gonzalez .
She noted that most frequently they deal with cataracts, refractive errors, diabetic retinopathy, retinal tears, and deviations from the retina and the so called eye flesh. Work in the Eye Hospital in El Alto is carried out with eleven physicians from Cuba.
According to the official data, thanks to Operation Milagro over 580,000 people have recovered or improved their vision in Bolivia, including many individuals from neighboring nations.
That health program aims to treat the eye conditions of the population and is inserted into the various plans developed as part of the Bolivarian Alternative for the Peoples of Our Americas (ALBA). Started in Venezuela, it is also applied in 31 countries in Latin America, the Caribbean, Asia and Africa.
