– The Cuban doctor who came to Guyana and is never going back

The thought of coming to Guyana scared the life out of Pedro Paez Hernandez. He thought he was going to an African jungle and would not survive it. But he came and found a beautiful country and a hospitable people…and he also found love. Telesha Ramnarine explains why Dr Hernandez now calls Guyana home and has no plans of returning to Cuba.
By Telesha Ramnarine
GUYANA is nothing like what Pedro Paez Hernandez pictured when he was told he had to come here for work. A general medical practitioner in Cuba, he thought he was being sent to a jungle somewhere in Africa.

“It wasn’t my decision. It was very distressing to me when I heard I had to come here,” he told Chronicle. But having seen the beauty of the country and experienced the friendliness of its people, he now declares that he has no plans of leaving.
In fact, he believes that his marriage to Rena Singh-Hernandez, a simple village girl of Moruca, Region One, is ample proof of his love for the country.
“I imagined that I was coming to bare jungle. Guyana is really nice. It’s beautiful. The interior is very nice and I enjoy the rivers and the place. Some things are good, some things are bad, but you have to try to live with that. Guyana, for me, is my second country now. If I have to go anywhere else, it will just be to visit.”
Hernandez, 39, came to Guyana in 2008 and was immediately sent to Mabaruma Hospital. After a couple of days, though, the then Health Minister posted him to Kumaka Hospital in Moruca. The year spent at that hospital taught him a lot, giving him experiences that he wouldn’t trade for the world.
Incidentally, when Hernandez Googled Guyana on the internet, the first image he saw was of the Amerindians and their thatched-roof houses. He was thus happy to be serving among the same set of people when he first arrived in the country. And they are the ones he credits for helping him to learn the English Language.
Apart from Mabaruma and Kumaka, Hernandez has also worked at Diamond Hospital, Leonora Cottage Hospital, and Lusignan Health Center. He finished his work under the Cuba/Guyana Government with the time he spent at Lusignan.

The Kero Lamp
Working in Moruca came with major challenges for Hernandez, including the fact that the village he was staying in usually had no electricity for the entire night. As such, after the light was cut in the afternoon, a kero lamp was used. The lighting from the lamp had to be used for everything, including delivering babies!

To make matters worse, although Hernandez had some training in gynecology, never before had he delivered a baby on his own. He was always the assistant.
He can never forget the time a pregnant woman went to him with high blood pressure which caused her to suffer from something similar to epilepsy. “It was very hard to deal with this in somewhere like Moruca. In this moment, it was a very hard time for me.”
Another unforgettable experience for Hernandez was the night another pregnant woman was taken to the hospital to deliver her baby. This girl had a mental problem and could not be referred to Georgetown because no planes were leaving Moruca in the night. “So all night we had to try to get her to push the baby. She didn’t understand because she was mentally unsound so it was very hard for me. In the morning when the medic and everyone else came, we got her to deliver the baby.”
Asked how many babies he delivered under such conditions, he said: “I started to count because I never did it alone. I forgot how many. I started to count on my hand but I lost count.”
Nevertheless, Hernandez values the time he spent in Moruca. “It was a big experience for me. I had to work 24 hours day and night. It’s not like now where we have many Cuban doctors coming to work. It was tiring and I had to get a lot of strength to get the work done. And the conditions there were very bad. I got a lot of experiences that I know I wouldn’t have gotten in Cuba.”
The third remarkable experience in Moruca for Hernandez was meeting the woman who would later become his wife.

“She took a sick to the hospital and we started to speak and our relationship matured from then.” Together, they have a daughter, Renatha.

I feel that my place is here in Guyana. My life is flowing better here. My work is more appreciated here and I can help more people. In Cuba, you don’t feel as though you are of much help because you have so many colleagues. But here in Guyana, you can help a lot. I feel more valued here.”

Valued
Hernandez feels that his time as a medical doctor is better spent here in Guyana. “I feel that my place is here in Guyana. My life is flowing better here. My work is more appreciated here and I can help more people. In Cuba, you don’t feel as though you are of much help because you have so many colleagues. But here in Guyana, you can help a lot. I feel more valued here.”
In his Lusignan community, Hernandez also has a small clinic and would see people in the afternoons and on the weekends. “Not everybody has money to pay you, but I thinking the most important thing is for people to feel good. In Cuba and anywhere else, you need the money but you still want to help people.”
Hernandez loves that Guyanese people are so friendly and kind. “They helped me with all my problems. They have always found a way to help me and I appreciate that. I have never forgotten those who helped and we are friends until now.”
He said he is also very grateful to the Guyana Responsible Parenthood Authority (GRPA) where he currently works. “I am grateful to GRPA and I enjoy working here.”
Hernandez believes in not just prescribing medication, but in actually helping people. “I love to be happy and I love to make others happy too. I don’t like problems and I don’t like to worry a lot.”