Havana - The 13th Cuban Surgery Congress 2016 has began today at the Conference Center in Havana with the participation of delegates from more than 20 countries.

The event, which welcomes specialists and guests from the Dominican Republic, Panama, Ecuador, Chile, Angola, Nigeria, South Africa, Italy, Spain, Canada and the United States, will open its scientific forum with a keynote speech by Cristian Morales, representative in Cuba of the Pan-American Health Organization/World Health Organization (PAHO/WHO).

Morales will give a talk on the greater sustainability of the National Health System and the role of the surgeon in the definition of protocols for managing cases and in the analysis of clinical practice.

After the UN official, Cuban surgery master, Gerardo de la Llera, of the 'Calixto Garcia' University Hospital, will talk about the training of specialists in this branch of medicine in Cuba.

According to the agenda, a symposium on trauma will serve to deepen surgeons' treatment of those injured in natural disasters, while a panel discussion will open the debate about the controversies in the treatment of traumatic emergencies.

Issues such as: minimally invasive surgery, liver, bile and pancreas, hernias, breast, transplantation, thyroid and parathyroid, small intestine, colon and rectum, among others, will be under discussion during the event.