Eliecer Encinosa García-Espinosa

A physician of deep vocation and total dedication to the construction of the new Public Health system in Cuba, beginning in 1959.

Doctor Encinosa will turn 97 years old and has dedicated more than 60 years of his life to medical care services.

His vocation for service and his unconditional willingness to carry out tasks of social impact have made him, over time, an exemplary and dedicated physician.

Dr. Eliecer Encinosa García-Espinosa is currently working at the Psychiatric Hospital "27 de Noviembre", in the municipality of Arroyo Naranjo, Havana, and may well be, given his years of life and work, the longest-serving active physician in Cuba.

Dr. Eliecer Encinosa García-Espinosa was born in the city of Bejucal, into a family of humble social background. Son of Luisa García-Espinosa Obregón, a primary school teacher, and Ramón Encinosa Mora, a tobacco worker by trade.

He completed his primary studies at Public School No. 1 in Bejucal and spent his adolescence in that city. He wanted to study Medicine and, lacking the economic means to do so, began working as a provisional servant at the Health House "La Purísima Concepción", belonging to the Association of Commerce Employees of Havana, known as Quinta de Dependientes, where he earned 15 pesos monthly, including room and board. After a year of working at the Quinta, and as a result of his personal advancement, he was promoted to Laboratory Technician. During this time he took advantage to complete his High School at Institute No. 1 in Havana; upon finishing, he enrolled in the Medicine program, alternating his studies with the responsibilities of laboratory technician and Surgical Assistant. He had the privilege of being a student of eminent professors, among them, Dr. Ángel Arturo Aballí Arellano, Father of Cuban Pediatrics.

He graduated as a Doctor of Medicine in 1948 and was immediately appointed as a substitute physician at the very institution where he worked. During this time, he met Dr. Eduardo Chibás with whom he established a close friendship, which led him to join the Orthodox Party as an active member. In December 1951 he obtained a permanent position as a physician.

In 1952, following Fulgencio Batista's coup d'état, he visited the United States of America with the idea of settling in that country, as he disagreed with the policy followed by Batista. He traveled through the cities of New Orleans, Tampa, and, finally, Miami; but the reality of the country did not please him and after 3 months of stay, he returned to Cuba.

He returned to work at the Quinta de Dependientes and from his position as a physician, he began to collaborate with the 26 of July Movement. He hid in the hospital colleagues persecuted by the Batista dictatorship, sold bonds of the 26 of July Movement, and circulated clandestine press among the Movement's sympathizers. He also collected medicines that were sent to the guerrilla column led by Commander Ernesto Che Guevara.

Upon the triumph of the Revolution, he fully integrated into the new process; he joined the Cuban Red Cross, was a founder of the Medical Militias and the Committees for the Defense of the Revolution (CDR); he also was part of the Integrated Revolutionary Organizations (ORI).

In 1959, he was appointed Head of Health Services in Bejucal, where he organized and transformed the health services of that territory, in accordance with the principles and laws dictated by the recently initiated revolutionary process. In 1960, Health Units began to function and in this context Dr. Encinosa carried out the initiative to create a medical and dental service, which he called Medical Clinic. Later, he found that his idea fully aligned with the new concept of Polyclinic, given the variety of services provided by that Institution. When Districts were created in 1962, he was given responsibility for District No. 6, which would later be called Regional Ariguanabo-Quivicán. He developed this work jointly with his work as a physician at the already Mutual Clinic La Dependiente, which later became known as the Clinical Surgical Hospital "10 de Octubre"; an institution where he continued working as head of the section of endocrinological research and the Martínez Villena Ward until 1967, despite his multiple duties.

On May 31, 1962, he was appointed Member of the Board of Directors of the Medical College of Havana, whose Secretary at that time was Dr. Rubén Rodríguez Gavaldá.

During August 1964, the Ministry of Public Health (MINSAP) assigned him the task of moving to the then province of Oriente to care for scholarship holders working in coffee harvesting. Once there, Dr. Escalona, at that time Provincial Director of Oriente-Sur, placed him in the old barracks of the town of Guisa, where a temporary hospital was created that provided medical care to students who were working in different camps located in the Sierra Maestra.

Upon returning to the Mutual Clinic La Dependiente, he was appointed its Technical Vice-Director. In February 1967, he moved to the town of Melena del Sur to care for mobilized sugar cane workers; and in June he was called by the then Minister of Public Health, José Ramón Machado Ventura, to join a medical brigade that provided care to the population of Isle of Pines, devastated by a hurricane.

At the end of June 1967, upon returning from Isle of Pines, he took office as Director of Clinic La Dependiente until March 1968. In April of that same year, he joined the fishing fleet to provide care at sea to fishermen, being the first Cuban physician to develop this mission for 65 days.

In October 1968, he was promoted to Director of Polyclinic Lawton, where he worked until September 1972. Beginning in October of that same year, he began directing Santos Suárez Hospital, until February 1973, when he took the position of Subdirector of Medical Assistance at Regional 10 de Octubre. In 1975 he completed a Course for Directors of Teaching Polyclinics. In 1976, he assumed responsibility as Head of the Section of Polyclinics in the Province of Public Health, and 2 years later was appointed Director of the Teaching Polyclinic Reina; where he remained until 1987.

His intense administrative work did not prevent him from continuing his professional development; he achieved the ranks of First Degree Specialist in Internal Medicine, in Health Administration, and in Hygiene and Epidemiology. Precisely, in 1982 he was invited to Mexico for an academic exchange on Hygiene and Epidemiology. Upon returning from that country, he taught Health Administration Courses to a group of Spanish nurses and fourth-year Medicine students. As part of his scientific development and updating of knowledge, he made a trip to the former Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) to take a Course on the Improvement of Primary Care. He also made work trips to Ukraine, Czechoslovakia, and other socialist countries of that time.

On April 1, 1987, he took office as First Vice-Director of the Psychiatric Hospital "27 de Noviembre", the former Health House "Nuestra Señora de la Candelaria", belonging to the Canary Association, known as Quinta Canaria. He remained in this position until 1989, when he went on to direct Polyclinic Párraga, where he worked until 1992, when he had to retire due to family problems. After a brief period of work inactivity, he returned to work in 1994 at the Psychiatric Hospital "27 de Noviembre".

Currently, Dr. Encinosa remains active at work; he serves as President of the Medical Ethics Commission of the Hospital and the Employment Commission; he is also an Advisor to the Institution's Board of Directors and personally cares for patients presenting symptoms of malnutrition.

During his long, distinguished, and permanent work trajectory, dedicated to the service of revolutionary Cuban Medicine, Dr. Eliecer Encinosa has earned distinctions and recognitions, among which the following stand out:

· Medal "Commander Manuel Piti Fajardo" for 20 years of service in the health sector.

· Recognition Diploma for Services provided to the Cuban Red Cross.

· Diploma as Full Member of the Cuban Society of Health Administration.

· Diploma as Full Member of the Cuban Society of History of Medicine

· Recognition Diploma for 50 years of service in the health sector.

Dr. Eliecer Encinosa García-Espinosa is an exemplary worker of Cuban Public Health. He is a man distinguished by his extreme simplicity and modesty. Despite his advanced age, he attends daily to his work at the Psychiatric Hospital "27 de Noviembre" where he is surrounded by colleagues, workers, and patients who admire him and show him affection for his humanism, intelligence, and professional ethics.