Havana, November 12 (RHC)—At a time when the hostility of the United States Government against Cuba reaches new heights, the humanitarian organization Operation Walk is reaching out to the Cuban people.

Operation Walk, with its flagship chapter in Los Angeles, has matured into an international organization with 20 sections in the USA, two in Canada, one in Ireland, one in Thailand, and one being organized in London.

The organization provides free surgery to patients with arthritis or other bone and joint conditions and it completed on Monday a mission in Cuba.

From November 7 through 10 its surgeons replaced 55 hip and knee joints at Havana´s Fructuoso Rodriguez Orthopedic Hospital, helping 44 people.

Operation Walk donates to Cuba all the material it uses for the surgical procedures.

Jeri Ward, Executive Director of Operation Walk LA, said that since 1997, the volunteer group had brought Cuba the gift of mobility through joint replacement surgeries that have changed the lives of patients free of charge.

The missions are also suitable to provide education and training to in-country surgeons.

Doctor William Long, said that during the first mission to Cuba in 1997, only one Cuban doctor could perform this kind of surgery. And he learned that, currently, 80 Cuban specialists can perform such procedures.

Since 1996, Operation Walk has conducted some 100 missions and taken care of some 17.000 patients in 25 countries. Ever since, It has come to Cuba 26 times.