Since July 10, 2004 to date, Operation Miracle has benefited almost 2,600,000 people from 34 countries, stated Dr. Reinaldo Ríos Caso, head of the Ministry of Health’s National Ophthalmology Group.

Ríos Casso, also founder of Operation Miracle, a collaborative project of the Venezuelan and Cuban governments, emphasized that a significant number of patients have been treated for cataracts and cases of pterygium, ptosis and strabismus.

No country has contributed more to the struggle for the prevention of blindness than Cuba, through Operation Miracle, commented Ríos Casso adding that the development of Cuban ophthalmology, equipped with the most advanced technology, is internationally recognized.

He added that there are currently 34 ophthalmology establishments in 13 countries, with 55 surgical centers, where patients from more than 30 countries receive treatment.

The mission, led by the Ramon Pando Ferrer Cuban Institute of Ophthalmology, involves expanding services in Cuba and increasing human resource training with the introduction of technology and new techniques.

Ríos Caso highlighted that the Institute has trained ophthalmologists, specialist nurses, optometrists and electro-medical engineers, among others.

He recalled that in 2003, before Operation Miracle began - an initiative of the historic leader of the Cuban Revolution, Fidel Castro - less than 50,000 surgeries had been performed in the country, while by 2013 more than 117,000 had been carried out.

On repeated occasions Dr. Marcelino Río Torres, director general of the Pando Ferrer, recalled that on July 9, 2004, Fidel visited the center and suggested the possibility of starting Operation Miracle, which was put into practice the following day, when the first 50 Venezuelan patients were admitted.
Torres praised the Cuban government’s efforts in acquiring technology on the level of developed countries, with the equipment – including an excimer laser, a new piece of technology to treat refractive diseases - distributed to 24 clinics involved in the program.

According to the World Health Organization, Operation Miracle, which provides operations to people facing blindness or correctable visual deficiencies free of charge, is of vital importance given that there exist more than 135 million visually impaired people in the world, as well as almost 40 million blind persons of preventable causes, 1.5 million of which are children under the age of 16.

At the José Martí Eye Hospital in Montevideo, a Cuban medical brigade has performed 50,000 surgical procedures, an effort recognized and appreciated by the country.

Sixto Amaro, of the Social Security Bank board of directors, commented to Prensa Latina that, through Operation Miracle, 100 million dollars has been saved in seven years.

The eye hospital forms part of Operation Miracle, which began in Uruguay in 2005, in the context of an agreement established between the Cuban and Uruguayan governments.

Amaro stated that of the 50,000 operations performed, 38,000 were to restore the vision of pensioners with cataracts, and the rest to treat other visual diseases.