Japanese agency representatives visit hospitals in Holguín

Photo: Luly Legrá

Representatives of the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), in Cuba, toured the three provincial hospitals in Holguín, where they evaluated the positive impact of their contributions to these institutions, initiated in 2017 through a collaboration project.

During these five years of JICA's colaboration, the hospitals Vladimir Ilich Lenin, the clinical-surgical Lucía Íñiguez Landín and the pediatric hospital Octavio de la Concepción de la Pedraja have benefited from the delivery of various medical equipment, literature and technical advice.

These hospitals are part of the 34 health institutions in Cuba to which JICA's assistance has reached, with diagnostic means for the early detection of oncological diseases, X-ray equipment, endoscopes, mammographs and other technologies that have had a significant impact in services and patients care.

During the visit, topics such as the advances in the province and the usefulness of several of the delivered equipment were discussed, which have benefited thousands of people and had an impact on medical care in other units, such as the Center for Research and Rehabilitation of Ataxias Hereditary, neurodegenerative disease of high prevalence in this northeastern territory.

Dr. Amalia Pupo, director of the Lenin hospital, thanked JICA and said that the donation has also been of essential help in the digitalization of the Imaging Service, which has resulted in faster, more efficient and direct care for patients.
For his part, Eriko Kawaguchi reported that JICA is working on a pilot project in Havana and Pinar del Río, aimed at digitizing hospitals.

“Although it is not directly linked to patients, it will have an impact on the functioning of health personnel, since its objective is to install an internal network, through which they can connect between centers and promote remote consultations and the availability of information.”