Cuban MD Cured of Ebola Returning to Sierra Leone

HAVANA TIMES — Cuban doctor Felix Baez Sarria, who contracted Ebola in Sierra Leone and was cured in a Swiss hospital, announced today that he will be returning at the beginning of January to work in the African country, reported dpa.

“I feel very good both physically and emotionally, the recovery has been good, I’m resting, enjoying the company of my family,” Baez told the official newspaper “Granma”.

The doctor contracted the disease in mid-November and was transferred to the University of Geneva Cantonal Hospital under an agreement between Cuba and the World Health Organization (WHO) to treat Cuban collaborators who could become sick with Ebola in West Africa.

The specialist in Internal Medicine, 43, returned to Cuba on December 6 after receiving two experimental therapies against Ebola: a combination of artificial plasma with antibodies and an antiviral.

“I finish what I start,” said Baez on his arrival in Havana after confirming the disappearance of the virus from his body.

“I remember them waking me and asking me how do you feel?, and why are you laughing?. Do not worry, I’m fine, I answered. The warmth that I experienced from each of the doctors and nurses who treated me helped a lot,” Baez told Granma recalling his stay in the hospital.

Cuba is at the forefront of the international fight against Ebola by sending a total of 256 doctors and health workers to Sierra Leone, Guinea and Liberia, the three countries most affected by the epidemic, which has killed more than 7,000 people, according to the latest WHO figures.