Cuban universal health system seriously damaged by the US blockade

HAVANA, Cuba, Oct 26 (ACN) The US economic, commercial and financial blockade has caused much damage to Cuba's universal health care system, with losses in the order of 160,260,880 dollars from April 2019 to March 2020.

According to Infomed, the Cuban health network, the accumulated damages during almost six decades of application of this cruel policy reach the figure of 3,074 billion dollars in the health sector.
The blockade denies access to medical technologies of U.S. origin or with more than 10 percent of components coming from that country, which has negative impacts on the health care of Cubans, the statement added.
In many cases, it is also impossible to obtain the new technologies that allow for more accurate diagnosis, treatment and faster recovery of patients with less invasive interventions, the publication continued.
The negative impact of the blockade is worsening and is crueler in the current context of confronting the COVID-19 pandemic.
In this regard, it is worth mentioning the case announced in March 2020, of a donation of mechanical pulmonary ventilators, diagnosis kits, masks and other medical supplies needed to face COVID-19, sent by the Chinese company ALIBABA, which could not reach Cuban territory.
This is because the contracted transport company refused to send the cargo to Cuba, claiming that its main shareholder was a US company, and therefore it was subject to the blockade regulations.
Another regrettable example is that related to the Swiss companies IMT MEDICAL AG and ACUTRONIC MEDICAL SYSTEMS AG, which alleged the sanctions of the blockade to refuse to deliver to Cuba high-tech mechanical pulmonary ventilators, essential for the treatment of patients affected by the novel coronavirus.
These two companies, considered world leaders in the development and manufacture of these medical equipment, have done business with Cuba in the past, but since both were acquired by the company VYAIRE MEDICAL INC. based in Illinois, USA, they have been forced to suspend all commercial relations with our country.
In this scenario, while the current American administration is harshly criticizing and accusing the island, more than thirty Cuban medical brigades have been sent to several countries and territories affected by the coronavirus, with the aim of contributing to the fight against this disease.
Not having the right medicine or technology for the care of a disease, at the time needed to save a life, causes suffering and despair in patients and their families. That pain can never be quantified.
In any case, despite the many damages caused by this imperial blockade, the health sector has invariably remained among the priorities of the Cuban government, which in 2019 allocated 27.5 percent of the budgeted social expenditure to this field.