Cuban doctor cured of Ebola will return to Sierra Leone

Cuban doctor Felix Baez Sarria, who contracted Ebola while on an aid mission in Sierra Leona, has vowed on Saturday to return to West Africa and continue treating patients.

“I will finish what I started. I am returning to Sierra Leone,” Felix Baez, 43, told reporters at Havana’s Jose Marti airport shortly after landing, the AP reported.

SEE ALSO: Cuban doctor in Sierra Leone tests positive for Ebola

Baez, a specialist in internal medicine, said that he feels ready to continue with the mission and that he is committed to fighting the Ebola outbreak.

“I’ll return in the first days of January. I feel well both physically and emotionally – my recovery went well, I’m rested and am enjoying the company of my family,” he said in a statement published Monday in the official daily Granma.

Dr Baez fell ill in Sierra Leone on November and was taken to Geneva a few days later.

“The total recovery of the patient, confirmed by thorough laboratory tests, now allows him to leave the country and travel with no risk of contagion,”  chief medical officer of Geneva canton (state), Jacques-Andre Romand, said in a statement.

The Cuban commitment to treating Ebola patients in West Africa has won international praise for contributing more for the cause than many wealthy countries. Among those recognizing Cuba has been the United States, its political adversary for the past 55 years.

SEE ALSO: More Cuban doctors deployed to Africa to fight Ebola 

The World Health Organization (WHO) has reported over 1,716 new cases. The largest outbreak to date is the ongoing 2014 West African Ebola Outbreak, which is affecting Sierra Leone, Guinea, Nigeria, and Liberia.

Volverá a Sierra Leona en enero, el médico cubano Félix Báez Sarría, quien contrajo el #ébola y superó la enfermedad pic.twitter.com/znV9Tsh9OM

— FOROtv (@Foro_TV) December 29, 2014

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