Camilo Oliva, a Cuban doctor living in Camagüey province, has struggled for years with the difficulties of hemodialysis and is now forced to apply for a humanitarian visa.
is speaking Cuban DNA“This is the only solution, as the condition of Cuban hemodialysis patients has been deteriorating over the years due to a lack of supplies and personnel to treat them,” the doctor said.
In early August, Oliva asked for help obtaining the medical supplies he needed for hemodialysis, which was scarce on the island, but his situation was precarious, with no long-term solution in sight for his condition in Cuba.
He said a friend in the United States was willing to apply for parole on his behalf, but needed legal advice to get the case approved faster.
“Although I have applied for a humanitarian visa, I still cannot obtain it. Even with the support of many people who understand my current situation, there is no way to obtain it. Therefore, I ask the lawyer who lives in the United States to help me file a humanitarian visa due to illness. parole request to expedite the process because I have a surety,” he explained.
Oliva told the social network a few weeks ago that she’s “lived without a kidney for almost five years and anyone who knows me knows that she’s fulfilling a mission for the same health system that continues to push me aside , and increasingly shortening my quality of life and time,” the doctor lamented in a Facebook post.
Doctors said he had contracted hepatitis C due to lack of hygiene and had lost the possibility of a kidney transplant. He is currently suffering from his last arteriovenous fistula and any other surgery is out of the question.
He started hemodialysis in November 2018 when he developed kidney failure after seven operations at the Hermanos Ameijeiras Hospital in Havana.
“When I was sick, I started receiving the usual penalties from the health system due to the treatment arrangements and the seriousness of the condition I was in. A month later a deadly bacteria was found in my blood and thanks to my friends in the medical world I was able to I was able to fully treat it and kill it because I was on eight antibiotics.”
Two months later, in January 2019, they removed his only kidney eligible for a kidney transplant, which never took place.
Oliva also pointed out the irregularities in treating patients like himself: a nurse has to take care of four to six people when in reality it can only take care of two; The same syringe is used for both hemodialysis; the tape must be carried by the patient.
Cubans are increasingly turning to social networks for help in obtaining medicines and supplies that are scarce on the island. In the most serious cases, they even apply for humanitarian visas when their treatment in the country ends.