Holguín carries out care programs for people with disabilities
- Written by Lourdes Pichs Rodríguez
- Published in Holguin
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Through eight programs, the Ministry of Public Health (Minsap) prioritizes attention to people with disabilities, which in the country total more than 449 thousand 300, of which 19 thousand 533 are from the province of Holguín, according to the latest statistics of that entity.
That total represents 4 percent of the Cuban population, a figure that can increase due to the population aging of the Island, because older adults are tributary to have some type of disability at this stage of life.
The projects of comprehensive attention to these people and the challenges of the health sector in the country to make a society more accessible for all individuals were among the topics discussed in the first day of sessions of the Second National Scientific Conference of Disability and Public Health that takes place in Holguín from November 2 to 4.
The Ecuadorian doctor Patricia Mena, president of the Federation of Non-Governmental Organizations for Disability in that South American nation, after recognizing the Cuban health system, spoke about disability, family and human rights.
While addressing the issue, Dr. Mena referred to the need of promoting positive language and inclusive communication, so she warned that “disability is not a synonym for disease, therefore they are not patients, this is a condition, a circumstance in which there is a person, and therefore they are people with disabilities”.
She said that this meeting should contribute to remember that "we are just invisible, together we are invincible" and that people with disabilities, is the largest minority in the world. "
In the meeting, Duniesky Cintra, consultant at the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) on the Island, offered a keynote lecture in which she pointed out the role played by the Ministry of Public Health through concrete actions to achieve inclusion and integration of this priority group to society.
For her part, Dr. Osmara Delgado Sánchez, Disability Coordinator of the National Department of the Elderly and Social Assistance of the Minsap, explained the eight specific programs implemented in the country to guarantee the care of these people, among them, the programs of comprehensive rehabilitation, the technical aids for people with temporary and permanent disability, the Medical Genetics and the cochlear implants.
In this context, the Second Meeting on Cochlear Implant and Hearing Disability will be held on November 4, on the 23rd anniversary of the first high-tech procedure of this type carried out in Cuba, where 505 have already been completed, 25 of them to Holguín patients.
