Vienna 2 May. Just one week after MediCuba Europe launched an international campaign to buy pacemakers for patients in Cuba, the Austrian-Cuban Friendship Association (ÖKG) responded with a donation of ten thousand euros.
According to the campaign's press release, life-saving pacemakers are needed, but the country is limited in their acquisition as a direct consequence of the economic, commercial and financial blockade imposed against Cuba. These devices would allow many of the people who need them to leave the hospital, return home and live safely, avoiding the risk of a heart attack.
Faced with this reality, the Austrian friends of solidarity, who last week held a meeting against the blockade in the city of Linz, agreed to respond immediately to this request.
Hermann Pernerstorfer, President of the ÖKG, who was awarded the Friendship Medal in 2023 by the President of the Republic of Cuba, Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez, reaffirmed the willingness of Austrian solidarity to denounce and confront the effects suffered by Cuba as a result of the genocidal blockade and the inclusion of the island in the unilateral list of State sponsors of terrorism.
ÖKG's donation is the second so far in 2024. The first was made in January, also for a similar amount, to the Cuban National Institute of Oncology and Radiobiology (INOR), which was used to complete a project to supply therapy chairs for adults and children.
Since its foundation, the Austria-Cuba Friendship Association has a long history of involvement in its own and international initiatives to help Cuba and its people, as well as to denounce the negative effects of the blockade policy and economic suffocation against the island.
(EmbaCubaAustria)
