Like the repairman of dreams, of the Cuban troubadour Silvio Rodriguez, the more than 300 Guantanamo Biomedical Equipment Technicians (BTE) daily turn dirty into gold. It seems that they resolve problems as if by magic; But it is not so, but the result of a steady work in the Provincial Center of Electromedicine.
Like the repairman of dreams, of the Cuban troubadour Silvio Rodriguez, the more than 300 Guantanamo Biomedical Equipment Technicians (BTE) daily turn dirty into gold. It seems that they resolve problems as if by magic; But it is not so, but the result of a steady work in the Provincial Center of Electromedicine.
"During the past year we recovered 10 699 medical equipments, 508 wheelchairs and 1887 sphygmomanometers. We save the country more than 1,229,000 pesos "- comments the young engineer Yasser Pérez Fontané, deputy director of the Provincial Electromedicine Center.
He also emphasized that they installed 38 new equipments, including three Philips diagnose ultra-sound equipment, two of them able to perform 3D studies.
Also the BETs contribute to the Image Project in the General Teaching Hospital Doctor Agostinho Neto of Guantánamo when they installed three image digitizer devices that save the country the purchase of the radiographic films and the chemical to reveal the images, in addition they will allow the network consultation.
"We are like the cameramen on television, we are not seen, but we are necessary, because we keep the medical equipment well-maintained for the people of Guantanamo to receive a good health service," concluded Yasser smiling.
LET'S DO IT
Working hard, so we find the biomedical engineer Angel Núñez Ruiz who works in the Department of Imaging. The intelligence and determination of Ángel, Valdimir Castellanos and Diobis Fuentes Frómeta allows functioning today the three computed tomography (CT) existing in the province of Guantanamo.
"With a few months apart, the CT placed in the Provincial Hospital, the pediatric Pedro Agustín Pérez and the Octavio de la Concepción and La Pedraja, in Baracoa, stopped working. The CT had faults in its computer and in a battery that fed the volatile RAM memory causing damage in the programming of the equipment. We recovered the battery, but the country did not have the program to reinstall the device that was our challenge, it cost sacrifice and ingenuity but we did it and with our work we also repaired a CT in Villa Clara and four in the capital of the country, the innovation represented about 200 thousand Cuban convertible pesos," Angel explained.
Daliana Lobo Torres, we find her in the hemodialysis room of Agostinho Neto: "Here the work is governed by rigorous protocols, 18 artificial kidneys and two plants for the treatment of water. The immediacy to solve any break is fundamental to maintain the vitality of a service so delicate because the lives of patients depend on these machines.
With dedication, these men and women work in the 10 municipalities of the province and in health units; without them it would be impossible to face the economic constraints and difficulties caused by more than five decades of economic, commercial and financial blockade against Cuba.
Thus we find Enrique Cobas Fernández, in the middle of challenge due to the limitations that impede the functioning of the display of physiological parameters. In a corner of his work area there are the old devices, but still useful, as defibrillators and electrocardiograms: "In addition we repair the means for therapeutic purposes used in rehabilitation rooms so popular for the relief of common ailments but that generate much discomfort in the daily activities."
Such is the stature of this team of workers who with absolute humility and dedication "set in motion" what is essential for life: "Imagine services such as intensive therapy without the equipment to monitor the patient's parameters, that is our contribution and also our courage," this man with wrinkled face and hard hands explained.
The real impact of the work of the BET is incalculable, because it is not mean to measure in numbers but in attention to the Guantanamo residents, but the statistics help us, sometimes, to see the light of our precious metal; For example, a break in an ultrasound equipment of the Provincial Hospital implies that about 150 people won’t have important exams every day, while another twenty would be affected by the damage of the CT.
With this unstoppable task save the economy thousands of pesos, so it was during last year when they recovered and upholstered about thirty couches of stomatology whose cost in the market is around three thousand dollars or when they recovered the autoclaves of the Blood Bank and Provincial Hygiene Center, incubators of the neonatology ward, sphygmomanometers of family doctor offices.
Multiple names, faces and personal histories are behind every work of the Guantanamo BETs, like the repairman of dream they reach "to the person, to all the people, to the universe."