Covid-19: mayor of Medellín asks doctors for help to Cuba 1:47
(CNN Spanish) - Colombia surpassed 257,000 covid-19 infections on Tuesday, according to Johns Hopkins University, a figure that worries both national and local governments, health authorities and the population. Medellín, which was one of the cities that had best managed the crisis, begins to report worrying data on infections, deaths and occupation in intensive care units. The capital of the department of Antioquia registers 14,738 infected.
In this situation, the city's mayor Daniel Quintero formally requested help from several countries, including Cuba, so that, if necessary, they send medical missions of intensive care specialists to deal with the pandemic.
Although the number of deaths in Medellín -208 until this Tuesday- is low compared to that registered nationally -8,777 as reported by the Ministry of Health in the July 27 update-, Quintero is concerned that the situation will continue with a trend growing and health personnel are insufficient to meet the demand of patients.
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The Mayor of Cali, Jorge Iván Ospina, and the Governor of the Magdalena department, Carlos Caicedo, joined the request of the Mayor of Medellín.
On the contrary, sectors of the ruling party Centro Democrático rejected this possibility. Former President and Senator Álvaro Uribe said on his Twitter account that he disagrees with the doctors' request to the Cuban government. "No mayor: not playing the game of the dictatorship that has despised respect for life, has trafficked the exploitation of its doctors and has used them to destroy democracies," he wrote Monday.
This position was also supported by Senator María Fernanda Cabal and ex-Mayor of Medellín Federico Gutiérrez.
In his daily television intervention on the situation of the pandemic in the country, President Iván Duque said Monday that he still does not see the need for international help from doctors to attend intensive care units. Although he clarified that, if necessary, decisions will be made in this regard.
Meanwhile, Chancellor Claudia Blum maintained that any request of this type must be made through diplomatic procedures.
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For its part, the Cuban embassy in Colombia downplayed the controversy unleashed on social networks and among political sectors regarding this issue. In addition, she added that her health personnel are highly qualified and that this was demonstrated in hundreds of missions around the world. "The rest are childish fallacies", maintains the embassy of that country in its official Twitter account.
The United States, through Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, had rejected the presence of Cuban doctors in countries in the region to help combat the covid-19 pandemic. On his Twitter account, Pompeo said on May 1: “Health workers are a valuable resource. But Cuban 'medical missions' are exploitation: a front to finance the repression of the regime, and to sow political division. Cuba's health workers and their patients deserve better. ”
While the debate continues, Mayor Quintero, who on Tuesday announced that he tested positive for the coronavirus, met with medical and scientific associations in Medellín and stated that, for the moment, local efforts will increase to care for patients who require and that the battle against the pandemic will be made primarily with local medical and health talent.
This position coincides with that of President Duque and the Ministry of Health.
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