Cuban doctor Julio Guerra Izquierdo received this Tuesday the Order of the Star of Italy in the Degree of Knight for the work carried out at the head of the Henry Reeve Contingent medical brigade, which assisted the population of the town of Turin during the coronavirus pandemic. COVID-19.
The award, granted by Sergio Mattarella, president of Italy, reflects the gratitude of an entire country for the solidarity of Cuban medical personnel, said Roberto Vellano, ambassador of that European nation in Cuba, according to the information released by the Cuban Ministry of Public Health (MINSAP), through its website.
Dr. Julio Guerra Izquierdo today received the Order of the Star of Italy in the Knighthood, for the work carried out at the head of the Henry Reeve medical brigade that assisted the population of the town of Turin, affected by the #COVID19.
?https://t.co/YSmULoTepR pic.twitter.com/QVAtnhbXA1
— Cuban Ministry of Public Health (@MINSAPCuba) June 1, 2022
Julio Guerra Izquierdo is a nephrologist and currently works as head of the Ministry of Hospital Services Department. Previously, he also fulfilled an internationalist mission in Guatemala, Venezuela and Djibouti, according to the released note.
In the delivery of the distinction, the Italian diplomat recalled that the Cuban health professionals They arrived in the initial period of the pandemic, when Italy became one of the first countries in Europe to take drastic measures against the coronavirus, for which they had a high number of deaths. “In this context of uncertainty, the presence of collaborators from the largest of the Antilles in Turin and Crema was a sign of hope and solidarity,” Vellano said.
The Cubans contributed to concretely managing the emergency, for which there have been many expressions of gratitude from Italy, mainly from patients and citizens, added the head of the Italian mission in Cuba.
Vellano highlighted as a legacy of that mission the contacts created at a scientific level between the Finlay Institute of Vaccines (IFV) and the Amedeo di Savoia Hospital, in Italy, which led to the joint study with the Soberana Plus vaccine.
Guglielmo Pirrone, Italian consul in Havana, when reading the official motivations for the recognition, said that it responds to the important role played by the doctor as coordinator of the Cuban medical brigade in Turin, within the framework of the support operation for the health structures of Piedmont and Lombardy regions during one of the most acute phases of the pandemic.
Turin fires the Cuban doctors and nurses who helped against the coronavirus
For his part, Guerra Izquierdo thanked the distinction on behalf of the collaborators who were part of the two Henry Reeve brigades in that country, and said that “the order is for his colleagues, Cuba, the medical collaboration and the people, to whom he has always carries in the heart”, adds the text.
According to the released note, the Cuban doctor recalled that the Henry Reeve International Contingent of Doctors Specialized in Disaster Situations and Serious Epidemics was created by Commander in Chief Fidel Castro in 2005, to assist the US population affected by Hurricane Katrina.
Cuban specialists have been in more than 50 countries, and during COVID-19 a total of 42 nations received the cooperators distributed in 59 brigades; two of them were in Italy, recalled the specialist upon receiving the award.
At the ceremony, the Italian Carla Vitantonio also received the Order of the Star of Italy in the Knighthood for her work in cooperation as a representative of CARE International in Cuba.
