The health sector in Cuba continues to be one of the most seriously affected by the criminal economic, commercial and financial blockade imposed by the government of the United States against Cuba.
The cost of 9 days of blockade is equivalent to the financing required to import the amount of medical disposables (cotton swabs, gauze, syringes, needles, sutures, catheters, serum equipment, among other inputs) and reagents necessary to cover the needs of the national health system during one year (USD 129,000,000).
Although these statistics are alarming, the pain and affliction caused by these shortages in Cubans is inestimable. Their impact on the quality of life and well-being of the Cuban people, the main victim of this genocidal policy, is real.
The company Novartis, based in Switzerland, has stated that, due to the blockade, it cannot offer Cuba the medicine Cabergoline, with which surgical treatments associated with tumors in the pituitary gland, an organ that regulates the endocrine system, could be avoided.
Because of the blockade, our country has had no access to the spare parts needed to repair the defective air conditioning equipment of the intensive care unit and operating rooms of the Institute of Neurology and Neurosurgery, because the manufacturer, which is a French company, was acquired by a US transnational. Therefore, it is not authorized to sell to Cuba.
It has been impossible to purchase the blood gas analyzers manufactured by the company ‘Radiometer’ to treat patients in critical conditions in the intensive care units as well as patients who have undergone heart surgeries because this company is part of the Danaher corporation, based in the US and, therefore, it is not allowed to sell these inputs to Cuba.
The blockade has prevented access to the devices manufactured by the US company ‘Datex-Ohmeda’ that are necessary to administer nitric oxide, which is a vasodilator gas used in cardiovascular post-operative care, neonatal care and patients undergoing lung transplants.
The severe limitations resulting from the blockade have considerably impaired the services provided to the Cuban population as well as specialized medical care.
To mention just one example, over the last four years, surgeries have dramatically decreased in the country. Even with the recovery of the healthcare activity during 2022 and 2023, the number of surgeries only reaches 65 per cent of the total achieved in previous years, when the country managed to perform 1 million surgeries. This has resulted in an accumulated demand for such services, with a waiting list that reached 86,141 patients by the end of February, 2024. Of all patients awaiting surgery, more than 9,000 are pediatric patients, and such situation brings about the consequent anguish for families and puts additional pressure on the health sector.
Another equally desolate case has been evidenced in the specialty of neonatology and newborn care, in which there are more than 20 pieces of medical equipment that are technologically obsolete, including incubators, thermal cribs, and neonatal ventilators, among others. Despite the priority given by the Cuban government to this sector, it has not been spared from the multidimensional effects of the blockade on the country’s purchasing power, including the access to more advanced technologies.
From March 2023 to February 2024, the pressures on the banks as well as the countries where medical cooperation is offered have become all the more evident. They have refused to transfer incomes to Cuba. One medical mission was cancelled during the period covered by this Report, after a decision of the recipient country, due to the persecution and intimidating effect generated by the US blockade.
Due to the numerous obstacles imposed by this policy, Cuba is denied the right to acquire technologies, raw materials, reagents, medicines, devices, equipment and spare parts, among other materials necessary for the better functioning of its National Health System.
On October 29 and 30, the General Assembly will consider and vote on the draft resolution “Necessity of ending the economic, commercial and financial embargo imposed by the United States of America against Cuba”. Once again, the international community will raise its voice and will overwhelmingly and forcefully condemn this unjust, illegal and cruel policy.
Permanent Mission of Cuba to the United Nations