Hermanos Ameijeiras Hospital: Defending life; defying complexity
By Alina Pérez Martínez
Right across Havana’s seaside boulevard, the Malecón, you find a huge building that Cubans call simply “the Ameijeiras.” The Hermanos Ameijeiras Hospital (Hospital Clínico Quirúrgico Hermanos Ameijeiras) is a 25-story hospital city, which enjoys great national and international prestige and is specialized in both clinical and surgical medical complexities.
For Dr. Juan Carlos Rodríguez Vázquez, Head of International Medical-Care Services at the hospital, dealing successfully with complex health problems entails the combination of experience, professionalism and humanism both by specialists and workers in general, efficiently using state-of-the-art medical technologies. The list of diagnostic and therapeutic procedures that use advanced technologies here go from high resolution computed tomography and stereotactic radiosurgery with linear accelerator for vascular tumors and malformations in the central nervous system to complex oncological, cardiovascular and digestive system surgeries, such as the hepatobiliarypancreatic surgery.
For renal disorders, treatments include minimally invasive endoscopy surgery for renal lithiasis, extracorporeal shockwave lithotripsy and kidney transplant from a live donor. The hospital also has a vast experience in orthopedic surgery, including the spinal column and hand microsurgery, as well as in the care of patients with metastatic cancer with unknown primary tumors.
One of the services that is in great demand by international patients is aesthetic plastic surgery, with successful and safe treatments for face lift, liposuction, reshaping of the abdomen and breast implant or reduction,
In general, the hospital’s services are much less expensive than in institutions of the same category elsewhere given that the services are conceived as medical-care and scientific development centers for Cuba, although they also provide international services.
The Ameijeiras Hospital staff is made up of professionals in over 40 medical specialties, who defend the implementation of clinical medical practice and medical thought over the use of invasive and expensive tests when they are not necessary.
The combination of talent and technology built on scientific and ethical bases is what makes Ameijeiras Hospital a safe and reliable destination. This has allowed the center to successfully treat patients with complex diseases from every continent, although more frequently from Canada, the United States, Angola, Holland and Venezuela, the latter through government agreement.
In order to see this reality for ourselves, we visited Room 41 in the international ward of this hospital and chatted with Stefan Simonovic, who is accompanying his sister who recently had surgery for a malignant tumor of the spinal cord. “No one dared operate on her. They said surgery was out of the question for her.” That was when Sanja Pesic and her family decided to travel from Belgrade to Havana after learning about the possibilities offered by Cuban medicine.
Only 10 days after being admitted to Ameijeiras Hospital, Sanja is recovering from her surgery, has begun physical rehabilitation so she can walk again and is already imagining herself back at work. For this 25-year-old woman — a waitress in a cafeteria and the mother of a three-year-old boy — it was unthinkable to pay for the care she received here in a European country. Today she tells us that she is pleased with her medical treatment and the kindness shown toward her by Cuban doctors and nurses alike, and smiles from her bed on the 19th floor of this hospital, which commands the view of a modest yet welcoming city that has infused her with new hope.
