Perhaps as never before, the anniversary of the founding of the Antonio Luaces Iraola Provincial Hospital has been celebrated in a difficult context, mediated by the spiraling effects of Covid-19 and the challenge of gradually normalizing health services. However, getting here, with 70 years of history and work, has been enough for joy.

Not only the achievements have been celebrated, but the life and work of those who have given this institution knowledge and commitment because, after all, a hospital is nothing without the people who inhabit it, without the doctors who went to red zones, isolation centers and consultations for acute respiratory infections, and without those who remained in the services to guarantee the essential health coverage, with more guards and the same fears.
That is why when the Antonio Luaces Iraola Award for the Work of Life was announced for the first time to surgeon José Miguel Hernández, the applause was sustained and the sincere reverence for those who have been a teacher for generations and an example of humility.
The list continued with other people with an outstanding career and significant contributions: Nuria Rosa Iglesia Almanza, indisputable pillar of the Scientific Council in the center; Jorge Daniel García and Yaikel Ríos Quintana, who worked tirelessly when the oxygen bottomed out; Yelec Estrada, Science, Technology and Innovation methodologist, and Yanet Pérez Rodríguez, graduate in Hygiene and Epidemiology.
In addition, a special recognition was given to Iván Moyano Alfonso for his work in the design, planning and implementation of strategies that allowed the effective care of suspected and confirmed patients of Covid-19, as well as the management of serious and critical ill people.
Similarly, the Labor Effort medal was awarded to Julio César Guerra Padilla, Milagro Márquez Rodríguez, Oxana Cabrera Espinosa, Lisbet Hernández Pérez, Blanca Rosa Fernández, Licebeth Martínez, Leiva, Diana Luisa Mendoza, Orestes Alejandro Pérez and Yaneisy Pérez Márquez.
As outstanding services and departments were the Center for Ophthalmology, Microbiology, Clinical Laboratory, the Intensive Care Unit, Electromedicine and Pediatrics.
At the event chaired by Carlos Luis Garrido Pérez, member of the Party's Central Committee and its first secretary in the province, it was clear the sector's commitment to science and innovation, and to raise the quality of services in a veteran institution, who reaches 70 years with new vigor.