Cuban Success Story in Treating Retinitis Pigmentosa
Retinitis Pigmentosa therapy is being applied in all provincial healthcare centers across the country in an effort to stamp out this disease in Cuba for good.
The director of the Camilo Cienfuegos International Retinosis Center in Havana, Obel García Báez, who also heads the national program under the Ministry of Health, spoke about the country’s efforts to stop this disease.
The prevalence of retinitis pigmentosa in Cuba is 4.8 patients per every 10,000 inhabitants. So far, 10,000 Cuban and foreign patients have been treated in Cuba of which 76 percent have fully recovered their vision, 16 percent have improved it, and 8 percent have shown no signs of improvement.
Orfilio Peláez discovered the surgical technique that can wipe out this disease that causes blindness and is hereditary. Patients who suffer from this disease slowly loose their eyesight if not treated.
Doctor García Báez said that patients from Argentina, Brazil, Venezuela, Mexico, Chile, Ecuador, Puerto Rico and the US come to Cuba to receive treatment for this disease.
