# Dr. Graciliano Díaz Bartolo, member of the Henry Reeve Brigade, dies in Santiago de Cuba

**Date:** 07/20/2021

The prominent Cuban physician Graciliano Díaz Bartolo, who was a member of several medical brigades that provided assistance abroad, died in Santiago de Cuba as a victim of COVID-19.

The doctor was a member of the group of physicians who assisted the town of Lombardía, Italy, during the most severe stage of the pandemic in the European country, which came to report one of the highest numbers of deaths during the first coronavirus outbreak. He was also part of the collective of Cuban doctors who cared for patients during one of the most pressing pandemics of the Ebola virus in Africa.

The renowned specialist, upon his return from Italy, continued treating patients with coronavirus in Cuba, where in recent months a high number of cases of the disease has been reported.

Precisely one of the provinces most devastated by the lethal virus is currently Santiago de Cuba, where the doctor did not stop treating the sick until he became infected with Covid-19 and ultimately died.

"Until the very end he was at his post, alongside his people. And because of those tricks that fate deals to mortals, he fell ill and died from COVID-19," said a text published by the state portal Cubadebate.

"Tireless in his care work, we repeat, he never stopped; he was an example to his fellow professionals and was much loved in the communities where he worked as a Family Doctor or where he lived," the publication added.

In recent months several doctors and health personnel have been reported to have become ill or died from coronavirus, which has spread considerably throughout the country.

The province most affected by the increase in cases is Matanzas, where authorities have had to create field hospitals to care for the sick and send doctors from other regions of the island to ease the tense situation in hospitals.