Italian-Cuban solidarity: doctors and nurses from the Henry Reeves contingent return to Cuba
The group supported the specialized personnel of Lombardy for three months, intervening directly and curing more than 210 people.
Cheered and applauded were the Cuban doctors and nurses who have worked in the anti-COVID hospital in Crema, Italy, since last March and who have now returned home. The Italian crowd walked them to the airport, showing their gratitude to the work carried out when Italy was knelt by the pandemic.
The team of 36 doctors, 15 nurses and a Cuban logistics coordinator who arrived in Lombardy on 22 March to collaborate with the Italian authorities in the fight against the coronavirus, returned to Cuba yesterday evening, welcomed by the President of Cuba Miguel Díaz-Canel. Very emotional was their arrival, reported by state television which followed live in Havana's José Martí airport.
The official Cuban newspaper Granma has published at the opening of its news portal the photo of the group that, with a national flag held tight together with an Italian one, gets off the plane of the Blu Panorama company that brought the medical staff back to its homeland. In the lobby of the airport, a large sign had been placed with the words 'Thank you!', While each member of the medical expedition received a flower.
In his greeting, Díaz-Canel welcomed the work done by his fellow citizens in Crema and the cooperation with Italy, one of the most hit countries by the coronavirus pandemic. The head of state then added that in his view Cuban cooperating doctors "deserve the Nobel Peace Prize". Cuban media wrote that the group provided over 5,000 medical care and 3,668 nursing care, directly intervening in 210 healings. Since the coronavirus first appeared, Cuba has sent 34 medical brigades to 27 countries that have requested their intervention.
As an Italian citizen, I couldn’t be more thankful and grateful.