US economic blockade limits production of wheelchairs in Cuban province

HOLGUIN, Cuba, Jul 5 (ACN) The limitations for the manufacture of wheelchair rubber systems stand out among the effects of the economic, commercial and financial blockade of the United States against Cuba on the social integration programs for school-age children in the Cuban eastern province of Holguin.

These devices require specialized supports for turning and braking, mostly built by U.S. companies, which makes it difficult to acquire them on the international market and thus to change wheels, Alfonso Bermudez, vice president of the Cuban Association of Physically and Motorically Handicapped in the territory, told the Cuban News Agency.

He pointed out that infants with severe disabilities living in rural areas and areas of difficult access are among the most affected, because due to the conditions of the terrain, they periodically require the replacement of tires and inner tubes used by these means of support.

He also pointed out that the genocidal policy hinders the purchase of other supplies such as foam rubber or specialized chairs to improve the mobility and comfort of patients with quadriplegia, paraplegia, cerebral palsy and other ailments.

There are also regulations for donations from North American non-governmental organizations such as "Joni and Friends", which is dedicated to delivering these devices around the world, the executive explained.

Likewise, the blockade prevents spinal correction treatments, rehabilitation techniques, orthopedic footwear manufacturing, among other aspects included in the attention to these vulnerable groups, which have benefited from social programs promoted by the Cuban Revolution since 1959.

Holguin is the province in the country with the largest number of people with hearing, physical-motor, cognitive and visual disabilities, for whose care a psychosocial study is being carried out, the only one of its kind in the Greater Antilles, which includes living conditions, medical check-up and incorporation into employment.