Cuba Health Ministry Reports on 2023 Performance

Havana, March 12 (ACN) In the presence of Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel, the Ministry of Public Health reported on its performance during 2023 and its projections for 2024.

The head of state stressed the commitment of health workers, who keep medical services up and running despite the shortage of resources and medications, as a direct consequence of the US economic, commercial and financial blockade of the island nation.

Diaz-Canel call to further enhance the application of science and innovation in the search for alternatives to offer higher-quality medical services to the people.

While reading the sector’s report, Health Minister Jose Angel Portal Miranda said that in 2023 a series of services were recovered in the post-pandemic state.

Major results included the work of Cuban doctors in 53 nations of the world, the improvement of the infant morality rate and that medical consultations exceeded one million.

Portal Miranda referred to the approval of a new Public Health Law, which faces the challenge of its implementation with ethics while meeting its objectives in each scenario. He alerted on the population aging, because some 22.3 percent of the Cuban population is over 60 years of age, and those persons demand medical attention of high quality.

Negative points included the significant reduction of births, increase of adolescent pregnancy, the exodus of health professionals to other economic sectors and the lack of medical personnel in 21 specialties.

Major working projections look at the strengthening of primary health attention, ideological preparation of leaders and pre- and post-graduate training.

Meanwhile, Premier Manuel Marrero Cruz called for control and action against crime and corruption particularly regarding the illegal sales of drugs and medical resources and to prepare doctors in the use of technology language and information technologies.