Yaisel and the miracle of surgery

Leandro Maceo Leyva, Special correspondent

THERE are ingenious people for whom there is no description other than invaluable. This is revealed by the Cuban Operation Milagro (Miracle) program and the 60,000-plus operations which have been carried out by Cuban doctors from 2006 to date. All of these surgeries have been at no cost to patients whose vision has been restored or improved.

Behind this reality, Cuban internationalism consists of people like Yaisel del Carmen Medina, a young ophthalmological surgeon who has been working since last March as the only specialist of her kind in La Rennaissance Community Reference Hospital – headquarters of Operation Milagro in Haiti – located in Port-au-Prince, the Haitian capital.

According to Yaisel, when she arrived in Haiti in October of 2011, two aspects of the program were functioning: one mobile and one fixed. Today, when only the latter remains, the order of the day continues to be commitment and dedication, concepts which have made it possible not only to maintain high standards of quality and quantity among patients seen in clinics and those in the operating room, but increasing their numbers.

As time passes, people begin to communicate its existence to each other. When a quality service is provided, they also communicate that. The Haitian population knows that surgery is undertaken free of charge, they know of the prestige of Cuban doctors and the impact on the quality of life of the people through work undertaken during these years.

Moreover, you have to take into account the sense of identification that we have achieved as a working team. This coordinated effort from the pre-operative line, clinical compensation and the arrival of patients in the operating room, in conjunction with skills acquired during the 23 months that I have been in Haiti have made possible the results demonstrated today."

We undertake operations Monday through Friday, with an average of 15-18 cases a day, while we see from 80-85 in the consulting rooms. A pre-operative line is taken with these patients: blood analysis, a medical check, and when they are ready, we give them an appointment for surgery. We don’t only see cases of cataracts and pterigyium, because other patients come with disorders highly common in Haiti, such as corneal infections and glaucoma.

We also undertake active surveys, generally on Saturdays, when we go to different communes, after prior coordination with the medical personnel in these areas, and from that find patients who are given a hospital appointment.

Adult patients, aged over 50 years, although a lot of young people come, suffering from traumatic cataracts. When we do an ocular ultrasound on them, if the retina isn’t detached, we remove the cataract and they remain with good visual acuity. They are people who can work and undertake other functions.

The language barrier. We have translators in the consultation area and in the hospital rooms, but only through the pre-operative stage. Afterward – in accordance with requisites which must be respected – there are only the nurses and myself as surgeon. It’s difficult because you have to tell patients to look down, not make any abrupt movements and keep looking at the light, but many of them don’t understand and move in the middle of surgery. That is something which always makes things difficult.

Restoring someone’s vision is something great, with a significant impact on a population with very limited resources such as the Haitian one.

We are talking of patients who arrive for appointments blind, with the practical help of family members. I have seen some who crouch in the doorway because they can’t see to enter. Then after surgery, they achieve more than 60% vision.

Haitian people are not as openly expressive as we Cubans are, but yes, they are grateful. They are not patients who, when you take off the eye dressing, give you with a smile, or display satisfaction; however, when you ask if they can see well and feel content, then they show it.