CAMAGÜEY. — Despite the shortage of medical supplies faced by Cuba’s healthcare system, 170 patients currently receive hemodialysis treatment at the Manuel Ascunce Domenech Provincial Clinical-Surgical Teaching Hospital in this city.
Rodolfo Emilio Domínguez Rosabal, director of the institution, explained that the Nephrology Service is one of those most affected by the lack of nursing personnel. However, no patient has gone without the procedure, thanks to a modern water treatment plant that ensures better medical care.
The equipment — which also included civil construction work — required a total investment of about five million pesos from the hospital’s budget. It has a capacity of 5,000 liters per hour for water reuse, he added.
Dr. Yennis Rodríguez Lino, specialist in General Integral Medicine and Nephrology, and head of both the service and the Provincial Regional Transplant Coordination Center, explained that the facility includes units for transplantation, clinical-hemodialysis, continuous ambulatory peritoneal dialysis, and hemodialysis — the latter with 20 stations, of which 17 are currently operational.
For patients who arrive without prior preparation, a temporary or permanent catheter is placed, while the angiology specialist performs an arteriovenous fistula when necessary — a vital procedure for ensuring the patient’s quality and longevity of life.
“It’s an extremely costly service,” she noted. “For example, thirteen sessions a month can cost more than eight thousand U.S. dollars in other countries, whereas in Cuba, the treatment is completely free of charge.”
Each patient also has guaranteed transportation, not only for their regular dialysis sessions but also for any emergency medical needs — again, entirely free of cost.
Among those who have benefited from this therapy for 10, 16, 20, and even 28 years is Marisela Rojas Díaz, a resident of Vertientes municipality.
Since 2001, when her health began to deteriorate due to chronic renal failure, she has received regular dialysis sessions — which she values not only because they are free but also because of the care and dedication shown by the medical staff.
Patients from municipalities such as Santa Cruz del Sur and Vertientes also receive care at the Nephrology Service, while emergency and urgent cases from Guáimaro are likewise attended, Rodríguez Lino highlighted.
Although kidney transplant activity has been halted in recent years, each patient who begins dialysis treatment is carefully evaluated during consultation, and those who qualify are included in a database of potential transplant candidates.
Hemodialysis, the doctor emphasized, is a life-sustaining method, and many patients manage to adapt to it not only thanks to the care they receive at the hospital but also through their own self-discipline regarding diet and fluid intake.
Translated by Linet Acuña Quilez