Historical notes of the Primary Health Care and of the specialty General Medicine Care in the Guantanamo municipality

Introduction: outpatient medical assistance schemes were created in Cuba by governments since 1825, to help the most humble settlers, later named "houses of relief", which at the triumph of the Revolution constituted the first model of primary care in the country. A brief recount of historical notes of the Primary Health Care and Comprehensive General Medicine in the Guantánamo municipality was made, from its beginnings in the University Polyclinic "Asdrúbal López Vázquez" in 1984. Objective: to describe the development of the Primary Care of Health and Integral General Medicine in the Guantanamo municipality. Development: medical coverage, organization of health services, the emergence of the specialty and the necessary transformations of the sector were considered. The years 1984-1993 were denominated as the "decade of the development of family medicine", which represented the implementation of the specialty in the mentioned municipality. The medical coverage of the community was also described, without affecting the quality of the medical services rendered. Conclusions: the family medicine, the medical specialty of the Primary Health Care, had an evolution and ascending development, given the social need for medical care of high scientific-technical quality and at a sustainable cost.