Getting bad news

When the Vietnam News Agency (VNA) and the Prensa Latina (PL) were rushing to prepare for the celebration of the 50th anniversary of Cuban revolutionary leader Fidel Castro Ruz's visit to Quang Tri Province (September 1973-September 2023), a golden milestone in the relationship between the two countries, VNA reporters suddenly received bad news, which is Moisés Pérez Mok, a Cuban correspondent in Vietnam was found to have a blocked artery and had to undergo emergency surgery.

Heart surgery is a complex challenge for everyone. However, for an elderly foreigner who does not understand Vietnamese and has many other limitations, the difficulty is even greater.

General Director Vu Viet Trang and VNA reporters congratulated reporter Moisés Pérez Mok after the successful surgery. (Photo: An Van Dang/VNA)

At that moment, the biggest motivation of the Cuban reporter, besides his wife and a small number of his Cuban and Vietnamese friends, was the close friendship between the VNA and the PL, an epitome of the traditional solidarity and friendship between Vietnam and Cuba.

The VNA immediately proposed to the Vietnamese Ministry of Health to support the Cuban reporter; then, the Hanoi Medical University Hospital received a medical examination for Moisés Pérez Mok.

The special surgery

Early in the morning of a weekday, the Heart Clinic of the Hanoi Medical University Hospital was packed with patients waiting in line for examination. Reporter Moisés Pérez and his wife were embarrassed when they walked through the waiting rows and entered the clinic.

It is understandable to feel the worries of the Cuban reporter having lived in many countries. Despite being over 60 years old, he has never had any surgery except a minor one when he was a child. Moreover, all previous health care he received was from Cuban doctors.

However, with a warm attitude and voice, the Director of Hanoi Medical University Hospital, Associate Professor, Dr. Nguyen Lan Hieu quickly reassured him. After thorough instructions, the first examination closed with a promise that the hospital would create the best conditions for the reporter.

That promise was fulfilled. The Medical University Hospital gave reporter Moisés Pérez rare privileges for a foreign patient. Associate Professor Dr. Nguyen Lan Hieu personally conducted an angiogram for stenting intervention, even though he might be late for an important local business trip.

After determining the reporter's arterial condition was more complicated than expected, requiring coronary artery bypass surgery, Dr. Nguyen Lan Hieu indicated that the surgery would take place a week later. Besides, he would continue to participate in the supervision of the surgery which lasted for more than six hours.

Doctors at Hanoi Medical University Hospital, reporter Moisés Pérez, and his wife. (Photo: VNA)

During the preparation for the operation, an interpreter was allowed into the operating room for communication assistance for Moisés Pérez until the time of anesthesia. This is not only because of the language barrier but also to help him mentally before his important moment in an unfamiliar place.

During his recovery, the Cuban patient always enjoys attentive care from surgeon Vu Ngoc Tu and a team of doctors and nurses at the Cardiology Center, Hanoi Medical University Hospital. Even other Vietnamese patients around him took care of him, which made him feel at home.

“I woke up from my post-surgery coma due to the calls of “Moisés, Moisés” from the doctors here, who even played the Guantanamera song, a popular Cuban folk song for me. Doctors played Latin music to make me more awake, which is very touching. During my stay at the hospital, I was continually impressed with the care provided by the doctors and nurses. The patients in the side beds even invited me tea and food after hearing that I am a Cuban because they wanted their "Cuban brother" to find out about Vietnamese cuisine,” shared Reporter Moisés Pérez.

"Another memorable event during my hospital stay was when VNA General Director Vu Viet Trang came to see me. 'We kept our word, now get well soon, Moisés,' she spoke. Just those few words express the best efforts and treasured affection of my VNA's leaders and colleagues.," recalls Moisés Pérez.

The Cuban journalist also joked that he must now update his profile with the detail of his second birthday, which is July 24, 2023, in Hanoi, after being "reborn" by the doctors of Hanoi Medical University Hospital.

During her visit, General Director Vu Viet Trang emphasized, "In the context of Cuba still having many difficulties due to many consecutive years of embargo, the help of the medical team and doctors of Hanoi Medical University Hospital becomes more valuable. We, the VNA reporters, and our Cuban colleagues will never forget the doctors' and nurses' kindness and professional talent."

"Embers in snow"

VNA reporters had talked with a PL colleague in the days following the discovery of reporter Moisés Pérez's health difficulties when therapies were still unknown.

To reassure the Cuban reporter, he said, "At the moment, there are many unclear points, but I am sure the leader of the VNA will try to support Moisés as much as possible," and then added, "We (the PL) firmly believe that if one day 'the whole world' abandoned us, we would still have the support of the VNA."

That is the sentiment, spirit, and belief shared by Vietnam and Cuba in general, and the VNA and the PL in particular. On the day reporter Moisés Pérez was discharged from the hospital, we were happy not only due to the operation's success, but also the loyal, impartial, and pure solidarity of the Vietnam-Cuba relation to each people of the two countries. We believe that the two countries will continue to give each other "embers in snow."

While the more than 60-year history of Vietnam-Cuba relations , leaders from both countries have consistently emphasized the unique nature and "exemplar" of the two sides' cooperation.

That unique quality stems from each nation's shared desire for the right to national self-determination, as well as the similarities in the paths taken by the two peoples to achieve that desire. It also comes from genuine assistance, and genuine sharing through the most trying times, when the most mundane and insignificant things become beautiful and valuable as the embers shared in the frigid snow.

Photo: VNA

During the war against the US to save the country, and in the early years of rebuilding the country after the war, Cuba sent Vietnam sugar, dairy cows, and other strategic construction works, as well as military, medical, and construction experts in Cuba who truly devoted to the revolutionary cause of Vietnam, just like Commander-in-Chief Fidel Castro's heroic declaration.

Most recently, Cuba sent COVID-19 vaccinations to Vietnam during the outbreak, when the entire world was hunting for a supply of this important medicinal substance.

Vietnam, for its part, has spoken out in every possible forum in support of the Cuban revolutionary cause and the fight against the country's persistent economic blockade. Vietnam sent many shipments of rice and other vital products to the Cuban people when Cuba was most in short supply and restricted on all sides by the embargo siege.

All classes of Vietnamese people are always delighted and proud of Cuba's successes and are grieving by challenges that Cuba has to cope with. Vietnamese people are ready to donate willingly to campaigns to help their faraway friends.

The support does not simply come through historical events and sayings from Vietnamese who are lucky enough to witness and live in that historical period but also portrayed through unexpected situations that generate unforgettable memories between people of the two countries.

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