By María Inés Álvarez Garay (*)
Commander Camilo Cienfuegos was very loved for his humility, simplicity and frank smile.
History highlights him as one of the most important leaders during the revolutionary process that led Cuba to its definitive independence in 1959.
The man of a thousand battles contributed to the political education of the members of the Armed Forces and the people of the Caribbean island.
In his speeches and dialogues with various sectors of the Cuban population, he made reference, among other aspects, to the importance of the unity of the revolutionaries, to freedom, to the importance of the agrarian reform and other measures of the Revolution, and he particularly dealt with about the role and work of members of the Armed Forces.
He became the whip that lashed the exploiters and the defender of the exploited.
He physically departed on October 28th, 1959, in an aviation accident due to bad weather, while returning from the eastern province of Camagüey to Havana aboard an executive plane, a Cessna 310.
Today, 62 years after his disappearance, the Cuban Medical Brigade (BMC) in The Gambia honors his memory by offering health and saving the lives of our African brothers.
Such is the case of a team of Cuban and Gambian health professionals who work in the Kanifing hospital, located in the capital combo, which with great dedication, and skill saved the life of a 21-year-old patient.
For 2 months, the young man began with a picture of abdominal pain that decreased very little with the usual analgesics. The examination revealed an increase in volume in the left flank, he was hospitalized in the surgery room of the health center.
During his admission, several studies were carried out, among which were abdominal ultrasound and Abdomen CT, a giant tumor mass was observed in the retro peritoneum. These studies were carried out by Cuban Dr. Jorge Julian Pajón, specialist in Radiology.
The patient was taken to the operating room, where a laparotomy was performed and a giant retroperitoneal tumor was removed.
Despite the large blood losses, correct volume replacement was performed, maintaining stable hemodynamic parameters.
On his first postoperative day he evolved satisfactorily, after a successful large-scale surgery, the result of an excellent teamwork made up of surgeon Dr. Alexis Pring, Dr. Osvaldo, Urologist, anesthetist Dr. Jorge Humberto Díaz, all Cubans, and Dr Baldeh and other Gambian colleagues.
Today the young patient is enjoying a new life, full of hope, thanks to these health heroes.
Cubans and Gambians together for the same ideal, guided by the humanistic sentiment of saving lives, with the firm intention of improving the health indicators of this worthy and grateful West African nation.
Camilo Cienfuegos, hero of a thousand battles, you are multiplied by thousands of brave and determined Cubans, who overthrow death day by day, and fervently fight for a healthy Africa, as our eternal and invincible Fidel wanted it.
(*) Professor and collaborator of the Cuban Medical Brigade in Gambia
"An Island on a Continent" 