Harmful effects on medicine of the U.S. blockade

If there is one sector of life which daily suffers the effects of the U.S. blockade of Cuba, it is the field of medicine, officials from the Ministry of Public Health import agency confirmed here today.

For example, when a machine breaks down, the spare parts have to be acquired in distant markets, with the consequent increase in freight costs, given the restrictions of the economic, commercial and financial blockade imposed by Washington since 1962, said Fernando Martín García, vice president of Medicuba.

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Luis Orlando Oliveros Serrano, Medicuba’s commercial vice president, pointed out that the majority of medicaments imported by Cuba come from distant regions, given the impossibility of acquiring them in the country’s natural geographic market, the United States, or from a U.S. subsidiary.

The magnitude of the damage in this context can be more keenly appreciated taking into account that 350 of the basic spectrum of 800 medicaments used in Cuba have to be imported, centrally those related to organ transplants, in vitro fertilization and fighting cancer, Oliveros continued.

These limitations, he added, also have an impact on medical equipment within the health system, imported in 90% of cases.

Nevertheless, the two officials affirmed that, despite the damage caused by the blockade, Cuba has never halted its international collaboration