Arnaldo Jiménez Castillo has been suffering from diabetes for nearly 20 years and, thanks to Heberprot-P and the support of relatives and doctors, he hopes soon to return to the classrooms of the Camilo Cienfuegos Military School of Matanzas, where he teaches biology.

"I thought I would have my leg amputated –said the biology professor-; my story would repeat again, I would go back to the 1990s when I had two toes cut off. But back then, there was no treatment that speeded up wound healing in patients with low biological defenses like me."

Diabetic foot is the name that identifies the infection, ulceration, and destruction of deep tissues in lesions on the lower extremities of diabetic patients, a condition related to neurological disorders of different degrees of severity.

"For many years, and in the most critical cases, surgery was the only alternative to cope with this affliction, but today this extreme practice can be avoided with the use of Heberprot-P, an agent that stimulates cicatrisation," explained angiologist Odalis Vázquez.

The Cuban drug not only reduces the risks of amputation in patients with diabetic foot ulcers, but also hospital costs by allowing early discharge of inpatients, who will have follow-up care through periodic consultations.

The product, initially known as Citoprot-P, was made by the Biotechnology and Genetic Engineering Center of Havana, and is available at all health centers of the country that have specialists in angiology, the branch that studies the vascular system.

Local doctors and researchers are committed to scientific self-improvement for the benefit of the people with this type of affliction. Among the latest actions made in this sense is the Provincial workshop on Integral Attention to the Diabetic Foot with Heberprot-P, held at the Juan Guiteras Gener University of Medical Sciences of Matanzas.

Diabetes mellitus is a disease caused by an alteration of carbohydrate metabolism, in which a person has high blood sugar. This disease can affect almost all organs, mostly eyes, kidneys, heart, and extremities.

Diabetic patients from countries like Venezuela, Argentina, and Colombia have benefited from the Heberprot-P treatment, and like them, Arnaldo attends his consultation on time to get the shot that will increase his quality of life and will allow his students to have the professor in the classroom again. By Yenli Lemus Domínguez