The Day of Latin American Medicine was ratified at the XIV International Congress of Medicine held in Rome in 1954. Its origin is a recognition of the work of the eminent scholar and doctor from Camagüey Carlos Juan Finlay Barrés for the discovery of the transmission of yellow fever through the Aedes aegyti mosquito as a biological vector.
There are names of Camagüeyan doctors in the region that are a source of pride for all those who work in medicine, or for the patients who, together with their families, are infinitely grateful to each one of them. Among those doctors, Manuel Oliva Palomino, from Manzanillo, who began working at the Amalia Simoni hospital in Camagüey since 1959; and a year later, in the current Eduardo Agramonte Piña pediatric hospital, until his death on December 7th, 2016.
The motivation for Medicine is shown from a young age, bold and with skills to inject. At only 11 years old, he was requested by his neighbors and went to help poor families, on most occasions, without charging for his services. However, the lack of economic resources only allowed him to train as a laboratory technician in 1954, in the first course that was given in Havana.
His career began in that same year. Later, before the massive exodus of doctors, he joined the call to study Medicine. Manuel graduated in 1969 with excellent grades. Although pediatrics comes into his life by his appointment, his knowledge and his love for infants hold him forever. In his own words, it was the specialty that allowed him to diagnose and cure his children, provide encouragement and confidence to parents, and feedback to grandparents.
Since the same year he graduated, he was a member of the Provincial Group of Pediatrics of Camagüey. He was linked to the Maternal and Child health program, and at the Eduardo Agramonte Piña pediatric hospital he founded the Oncology service, which today bears his name. He reached the first and second grade in the specialty of Pediatrics. At the Institute of the University of London, he became Senior Teacher of Child Health in 1977, and from 1984 he was Senior Lecturer in Paediatrics.
He carried out various management tasks in health and teaching. He chaired medical, research and ethics commissions; and he practiced as an expert in Cuba and in 34 countries in Europe, Asia, Africa and Latin America, where he also provided advisory services as a member of the World Health Organization.
His profession was combined with research projects in Oncology and Pediatrics. The results of his work have been published in more than 21 books and various articles in national and international magazines. Congratulated with multiple distinctions, he remembered with special pleasure the Distinction for Cuban Education, the Piti Fajardo Medal, the Internationalist Medal, the Manuel Beyra Alemañy Distinction, the Finlay Award for the Manual Book of Oncopediatrics, and the Adoptive Son of the province of Camagüey, which was granted in 2003.
Translated by: Aileen Álvarez García
