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The Cuban eye-surgery program known as "Operación Milagro" or Operation Miracle, which was treating 208,000 patients from 21 countries, was one of the major successes for Cuban solidarity with Latin America and the Caribbean in 2005.
"How much would that cost? How much does it cost to return the sight to thousands of people?" Fidel Castro asked the Cuban parliamentarians on 22rd December 2005. He asserted that no riches can be compared to the happiness of those who get their sight back after having lost it due to cataracts, glaucoma, diabetes and other diseases.
Fidel explained that the number of eye surgeries administered on Cubans increased to 35,000 in 2005, from 18,000 in 2003, as a direct result of Operation Miracle.
The medical program was officially launched in 2004 by assisting Venezuelan patients, though last August it was expanded following a meeting between Presidents Hugo Chavez and Fidel Castro.
Some 172,306 patients had undergone eye-surgery up to December 16 and that includes patients from Panama, Bolivia, Brazil, Uruguay and other Latin American and Caribbean nations.
Havana, 23 Dec. 2005 (from Agencia de Información Nacional)
Many of Cuba's hotels are were dedicated to accommodate patients and medical teams to support this programme. These included as of 24th November 2006 the following:
Islazul Hotels:
Cubanacan Hotels:
Nowadays some of these hotels are open again for regular or health tourism. Please use the links above to check current status and availability.
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