CAMAGÜEY.- Without objective recollection of the reason that made her study Medicine Dr. Sonia María González Vega, specialist 1st. and 2nd. Degree in Comprehensive General Medicine (MGI), Master in Longevity Satisfactory and Assistant Professor, she is very clear that since her graduation in 1991, that she wanted to perform in Primary Health Care (APS) was her biggest motivation.

- "Was that purpose fulfilled?"

—Yes, upon graduation I was a Family Physician immediately in an office in Santayana, then I went to the one on Dolores Betancourt street, in the city of Camagüey, where I did all my familiarization time and the three years of MGI's specialty, I am deeply Apesian, a little term orthodox, but that's what we call ourselves lovers of this level of care, and Yes, I am at heart.

“I never had an idea to direct, but the deputy director of the Julio A.Mella district and I was there for several years; first as Deputy Director of Hygiene and Epidemiology and later as Director of Health at that level.

“In 2000, I became the head of APS in the Health Department of the municipality of Camagüey, where I stayed for ten years and in that interval I fulfilled an internationalist mission for four years in Venezuela, where I was the coordinator of Barrio Adentro Dos, in Sucre.

"That stage in Venezuela constituted for me a learning and an incredible experience , a real privilege because I started the assembly of all the Diagnostic Centers of that State and of 18 planned, I left 14 built and fully functioning, as were the rehab rooms, it was somewhat very enriching in my professional life, I learned details that a doctor does not have the obligation to know just by being it.

“Upon my return I returned to the municipality of Camagüey and in 2009, I left to a mission to Saint Vincent and the Grenadines as an attending physician, where I spent two years in which I learned the same because the procedures that here nurses perform there are in charge of doctors, up to an intramuscular injection. Only graduates do it, and there are very few. It was also a school of the blank of English speech ”.

—But you are responsible for APS at the provincial level ...

—Because when returning from the second mission in 2011, I was already proposed for that position that I still hold.

—You were selected by the Ministry of Public Health, with three other colleagues, to go as an expert in Primary Care to the United States of North America ...

—We were hired by the Illinois University of Chicago, USA, we stayed there for almost six months —2017-2018—. We did a very nice job, we carried out an analysis of the health situation in the black community, for being one of the fundamental tools of the Program of the Family Doctor and Nurse and we found a great disparity, for example, the average age of mortality in North American average class was 80 years; however, in that lower black class it was only 60 years. “We put a lot of emphasis on the Maternal Child Care Program, in adolescent pregnancy and its consequences, and the vice-rector of that university —who hired us—told us that we were specialists in exhibiting great health indicators with a situation of unfavorable socioeconomic status.

"We found that 60 meters to the right had first world markers and 60 on the left were similar to those in Africa. From that experience, we all learned a lot, we were very well received, showing respect to Cuban medicine. We met with the Illinois Health Director, and in her presentation, she recognized the achievements of Cuban health. We were in Washington, in extremely important places, such as the Congress of Medicine from the USA, in Atlanta, that is, in first world stages in those of us who made several presentations related to our family medicine, as with the dispensarization of patients and we clarify that nothing could be done by computers but personally, that is irreplaceable, such as the consultations and the home visits we make and we were very well accepted. They made inquiries via the Internet and we said that the Cuban doctor had to see and touch the patient ”.

- Is that task completed?

—I continue to this day with my 712 offices of the Doctor and Nurse of the Family in communities because there are another 16 in schools. While complex, this type of care is very comprehensive and nourishes us with knowledge, you can not stop studying from undergraduate, then for constant updating through courses on PAMI, epidemiology, with different scenarios, as are the people themselves who are attended.

"Today chronic non-transmissible diseases abound in the population, around 50% suffer from some, ectopic pregnancy is more common, vaginal infection and could mention other ailments. We had IRA (Respiratory Infections), we had dengue, and for almost two years, both in the world and in Cuba, the presence of the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus causes COVID-19 ”.

—How would you classify this stage of the pandemic in the PHC?

- "Very difficult." In the first time that Camagüey took on the cases of COVID-19 of Ciego de Ávila, we managed to maintain 300 Family Physicians in red zone of the Amalia Simoni and the Octavio de la Concepción y de la Pedraja military hospital, also in isolation centers.

“I am very proud of the Family Physicians, even the youngest and the vast majority exceed expectations, it has saved many lives. They have undergone scheduled isolations and then faced household income, something very difficult because the discipline of the population was paramount ”.

—In this panorama came vaccination ...

—That event turned out to be a joy within the communities, our health personnel, all because we saw a light of hope and life gave us the reason, that is what has straightened the country, the figures say everything, although there is no room for neglect. The doctors and nurses of the family were fundamental links in this crusade. The vaccination of so many people in the province at the same time and different ways, all according to how its application was being authorized and the epidemiological situation, the same is the Ismaelillo clinical trial with the Abdala vaccine in children and vaccination with Sovereign Pediatrics, and thus successively it has been a process that does not stop because we are booster dose six months after completed immunization.

- "If I ask you to summarize your life as a doctor?"

—It has been enriching, we, and I speak on behalf of the majority, almost become addicted to work. This stage of COVID-19 has been very bad, in many things, I lost my mother and not from this disease. My son is 23 years old and I was working without being vaccinated because I am allergic to Thimerosal, we've been successful so far and we had to take care of her.

The effort has been intense, we have all given an extra, we had to grow, and we have achieved it, I am proud of my sector. We had recent graduates who went to other municipalities, many to more than one, it was very nice to see that.

"Camagüey is coming out of COVID-19 with the expected behavior, we reached a plateau in the number of infections and we are in the queue, it goes down slowly, that happens when the "peaks" do not become so elevated as happened in other provinces because there were many susceptible people. We have solved it with our own people, without reinforcement and my appreciation is that it has normal behavior.

“The other thing is that when in the municipality of Camagüey the health intervention entered the Delta strain and was not yet authorized the vaccine for risk groups, that is, they were not immunized in that then nephropathy, transplanted patients, pregnant, postpartum, and under the age of 18, means that more than 89,000 people were without vaccination, all susceptible. We are already leaving, without forgetting the measurements of health and protection. It is indisputable that vaccination had its impact thanks to the great effort of our scientists, and there Primary Health Care is also present, of which I reiterate I feel very proud "

- "If you had a time machine that would take you back after so many experiences, even when you look so young, would you go back on your professional steps?

—I would choose Medicine again and within this the familiar one, both, I have no doubt, that would make everything better.

Translated by Linet Acuña Quilez