Mayabeque, Cuba: The economic, commercial and financial blockade imposed by the United States against Cuba, for six decades, notably affects the public health sector.
This hostile policy denies access to medical technologies of US origin or with more than 10 percent of components from that country, which has negative impacts on health care for Cubans.
The blockade also affects the execution of important National Health Programs, such as Maternal and Child Care, Serious Patient Care, Comprehensive Program for Cancer Control, as well as several programs aimed at the prevention and control of Non-communicable Diseases, among others.
About the damages in this sector, the director of the polyclinic Luis Li Trigent, from Güines Doctor Javier Corso del Toro, a specialist in Comprehensive General Medicine (MGI) comments ?Cuba is unable to acquire cytostatics, prostheses for pediatric cancer patients. It is also difficult to purchase drugs for the treatment of HIV-positive patients?.
The negative impact of the blockade is aggravated and crueler in the current context of confrontation with the COVID-19 pandemic. This policy puts additional pressure on our public health system, making it difficult to acquire materials, equipment and other supplies that are urgently required to save lives.
