For Dr. Pedro David Alarcón González, the last 23 days have completely changed his understanding of time, and the fact that, at the head of the surgical service at the Mártires de Las Tunas pediatric hospital, 24 hours a day was not usually enough. Now, on Haitian soil, it becomes a tremendous paradox and the days are confused with months.

Las Tunas, Cuba.- Dressed in green, he operates on between 15 and 18 patients a week in the operating rooms of the AQUIN Community Reference Hospital (HCR by its Spanish acronym), which belongs to the Nippes department in the southern region. The rest of the time, which is not too much, he practices the language to understand the big, frightened eyes that stand in front of him and point their fingers at the affected area.

He assures that there when the gloves are on, there is great respect for Cuban medicine and each professional who arrives can do no less than honor this "pact" on which the Haitian people have often been nourished.

"The people are very attached to Cuban doctors because the therapy offered not only combats illnesses but also aims to reach the soul.”

"We see a reality that is very different from ours, marked by inequalities and a lack of primary health care, of a system that puts the human being at the center of care."

"Here I have had to prepare myself doubly because I keep improving myself in the content of my specialty, and in addition to that, I have to study the language, to achieve good doctor-patient communication. It's been quite difficult, I can communicate, but I'm still doing my best."

"I have to make the most of the language because the patients are very communicative and, above all, very polite; despite their poverty and lack of education, they have a nobility that moves me."

Pedro, a first-degree specialist in General Surgery, tells 26 that far from his homeland, the Cuban Public Health System is valued differently, as the differences are notorious. He is constantly reminded of the concern of the hospital to which he belongs here for the life of any child, the constant monitoring, the hands on the forehead, and the pain when the best results are not achieved.

"From afar, you can see that there is a great emotional charge in the training of doctors on the island, and that is commitment and sensitivity. The separation from the family hits hard, but you come back more complete, even as a human being, and you do so certain that for you, there is no other profession in the world."