CARACAS: Chinese doctors helping Venezuela combat the novel coronavirus visited a leading health facility, and accompanied their local counterparts in making house calls.
The Chinese medical experts visited the Dr. Alcides Rodriguez Integral Diagnostic Center in the capital Caracas, which serves as the country’s main facility for detecting and treating COVID-19 patients.
The visit “was very productive since we were able to learn a lot, because they experienced the virus before we did,” Cuban-born Yuderkys Requesens Santana, coordinator of the center, told.
The Chinese medics were keen to learn about the field work being done by Venezuelan and Cuban doctors around the city, Requesens said.
“They are very interested in this Venezuelan system of research, in which doctors go out into the communities en masse, visiting 100 percent of the surrounding communities, or more than 50,000 people, house to house,” Requesens said. The Chinese experts found the house-to-house visits valuable “since they allow for early detection” of potential COVID-19 patients, said Jhon Segovia, director of the center’s Area for Comprehensive Community Health, adding that they helped by making “recommendations to adopt at our health centers.”
“We are seeing about 150 patients a day with some respiratory problems,” and an average of 15 suspected COVID-19 cases, mainly in people who came in contact with an infected patient, travelers, or healthcare workers, said Segovia, who oversees two hospitals, one clinic and a network of 20 small and accessible health centers.
However, “we have not had any patient test positive as yet,” Segovia said.
Johnny Arnao, a local resident who received a house call, said he appreciated the visit by the Chinese doctors. “We feel safer with them since they have already undergone this difficulty.” – Agencies
