Roque Roque Frías

A prestigious specialist in Gynecology and Obstetrics, Roque Roque Frías was born in the town of Guara, Melena del Sur, province of La Habana (now Mayabeque). "Roque Roque," as they affectionately called him, graduated as a Doctor of Medicine in April 1962.

He had begun studying the career before the revolutionary triumph of January 1st, 1959, and had to interrupt his studies due to the closure of the University of La Habana in 1956, during the Batista regime.

Once graduated, he was assigned to perform Rural Medical Service at the "Emilio Bárcenas" Hospital in Mayarí Arriba, former province of Oriente. Subsequently, he was placed at the "La Pimienta" Rural Hospital and later, due to service needs, was transferred to the General Hospital of Niquero as its director.

To speak of "Roque Roque" means to speak of the teacher, of the gynecologist-obstetrician, of the public health expert, of the Cuban folk entertainer who, with his unparalleled Cubanness, his eternal smile and cheerfulness, transmitted optimism and confidence at all times.

He completed that work stage as Coordinator of Rural Medical Service in Manzanillo, Campechuela and Niquero, localities that then belonged to the Manzanillo Region of the South Oriente Province, former province of Oriente.

In response to the call to develop medical teaching in Santiago de Cuba, the provincial capital, Dr. Roque joined as the first resident in Obstetrics and Gynecology in Santiago de Cuba. Simultaneously, he served as subdirector of Medical Care at the current Maternal North Hospital "Tamara Bunke" of that city.

He completed his specialization at the maternity ward of the General University Hospital "Calixto García". As a specialist in Obstetrics and Gynecology, he was appointed subdirector of the "Eusebio Hernández Pérez" Maternal Hospital (Workers' Maternity). His organizational talents, human sensitivity, sense of belonging, and ethical, moral, professional, teaching, research, and patriotic convictions, maintained throughout his more than eight decades of life, converged so that he would assume the responsibility of Director of the aforementioned institution, until the then Minister of Public Health, Dr. Helidoro Martínez Junco, urged him to assume the Regional Health Direction of Centro Habana (Centro Habana and Habana Vieja municipalities), and subsequently, he was appointed Director of the Regional Health Direction of Marianao, comprised of the (current municipalities of Marianao, La Lisa and Playa).

After completing his work as Regional Director, always supporting his field of study, he was designated Provincial Chief of Obstetrics and Gynecology of the former La Habana Province (current provinces of La Habana, Mayabeque and Artemisa). He was later, with greater experience and expertise as a public health official, designated Director of the then Gynecology-Obstetrics Hospital "Clodomira Acosta," originally the Private Clinic "Cardona" founded in the 1940s (currently headquarters of the Institute of Hematology and Immunology "Doctor José Manuel Ballester Santovenia").

He later returned to the "Eusebio Hernández" Maternal Hospital where he served in various capacities as subdirector of the institution and chief of the Obstetrics service, among others. When the Institute for Health Development (IDS) disappeared in 1986, and a Maternal and Child Hospital belonging to the teaching-care-research complex of the "Julio Trigo" Hospital in Arroyo Naranjo municipality was created in the building it occupied, he was appointed chief of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology of the Faculty of Medical Sciences "Julio Trigo" of the current University of Medical Sciences of La Habana.

Simultaneously, he served as teaching coordinator of the Maternal and Child Hospital. He would later be placed at the current General Teaching Hospital "Enrique Cabrera," known as the National High Habana Hospital, where he worked until his passing on January 1st, 2023.

At that institution, he assumed responsibilities as subdirector of the Maternal and Child area, chief of the Obstetrics Service, and also chief of the Teaching Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology of the Faculty of Medical Sciences "Enrique Cabrera" of the University of Medical Sciences of La Habana and collaborator of the Medical Services of MININT.

He was a fervent defender of the Clinical Method, which he called "the heart of Medicine" and which "should be the central and primary element in the training of physicians."

A Specialist of First and Second Grade in Obstetrics and Gynecology, Auxiliary Professor with more than 52 years in teaching, Consultant Professor, Master's degree in Comprehensive Care for Women, Diploma in Higher Medical Education, Honorary Member of the Cuban Society of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Professor Roque Roque Frías, during his fruitful life, received multiple distinctions.

Member of Specialization Examination Boards and author of several books on his specialty and publications in Cuban and foreign journals.

His participation in national and foreign events, in courses taught within and outside Cuba, as well as his consistent actions aligned with his ideals, make him deserving of an extensive and brilliant resume, worthy of being known in depth by current and future generations of gynecologists-obstetricians, public health experts, and medical students.

Professor Roque Roque Frías possessed a sui generis personality that personal friends and former students attributed to a mixture of fine humor and a very Cuban and popular way of understanding our current world.

Roque Roque was one of those people who, with the brightness in their eyes, transmitted strength to fight to achieve what is desired, which caused a strong connection with everyone who approached him virtually or in person, whether they were patients, students, colleagues, or friends.

Roque Roque was among the optimists, those who think and act like Don Quixote with his shield on his arm, those who intuit, sense, believe that everything can be possible.

[Taken from the Biographical Notes of Doctor Roque Roque Frías presented by Doctor Luis Suárez Rosas based on the article "Contributions of the Chair to Medicine" authored by José Antonio de la Osa, available in its original version in the newspaper Granma, as well as from the story "The Guy Who Believed in the Sun" by Héctor Zumbado Argueta, available in its original version in La Jiribilla].