Las Tunas - The Mártires de Las Tunas Provincial Pediatric Hospital has resumed several of its services in accordance with the epidemiological situation in the province, which already shows a decrease in the number of Covid-19 positive cases in its population.

Dr. María Cristina Cisneros Vázquez, director of that hospital institution, explained that since last year the hospital was reorganized to face the pandemic and in 2021 it had 100 beds available due to the unexpected increase of confirmed or suspected high-risk patients in the pediatric age group. "In August and September we registered an occupancy rate of 96.5 percent for Covid-19.
In order to respond to this urgency, constructive work was carried out in Intensive Care. "Today our Intensive Care Unit has seven beds for the rest of the pediatric conditions that need this service, and a room for Covid-19 patients with three ventilatory positions, complying with health protocols."
In October, as the morbidity of the epidemic decreased and the morbidity of other conditions increased, four of the six cubicles for Covid-19 patients returned to their usual functions. This has made it possible to improve the performance of the hospitalization, surgery, miscellaneous A and B wards, and the cubicle for monitoring febrile symptoms, among others.
"We recovered with its 12 beds the Intermediate Care Unit, the Oncohematology ward and the Pediatric Cardiology service," added Cisneros Vázquez.
At present, 47 capacities remain available for the care of Covid-19 cases, although the aim is to maintain some 20, as the incidence decreases, as well as to resume the usual consultation of respiratory infections in the Guard Corps.
With the closure of isolation centers, this hospital will assume the care of those infected with the SARS-CoV-2 virus up to 5 years of age, and those over that age only if they have de-compensated comorbidity.
Despite the interruption of the outpatient service, Cisneros Vazquez assured that they never stopped following up on patients who required it and could not wait, especially those from Neurosurgery, Nephrology, Urology, Cardio-pediatrics and Traumatology.
"Since the first of October, consultations for all specialties began to be scheduled. We are reopening one for Family Planning, in which the specialist in Gynecobstetrics, from the Health area of the Gustavo Aldereguía polyclinic, provides contraceptive methods to adolescents as part of the actions of the Mother and Child Program."
At the same time, he said, the Neuro-development consultation is being reestablished with the participation of several specialties. Likewise, they plan to create a consultation for children convalescing from Covid-19 who have been in Intensive Care and after the disease have presented a multi-systemic syndrome.

During this period, elective surgery has been affected, and there are already some 200 patients on the waiting list as a consequence not only of the pandemic, but also of the tightening of the U.S. blockade against Cuba, which hinders the acquisition of resources and supplies. "We prioritize emergency surgeries and those that, if not performed in a timely manner, could leave the infant with a disability," he said.
"The commitment of the institution and of the doctors of these surgical specialties, once the supplies arrive, is to increase the performance per room to solve the health problems of our children, which generate so much anxiety and concern in the families," he concluded.