Cuban experts work on projects to recover neonatal incubators

HAVANA, Cuba, May 14 (ACN) Specialists and technicians from the Cuban Electronics, Informatics, Automation and Communications Industry Group (Gelect by its Spanish acronym) are working on a project to reuse neonatal incubators that have been discontinued due to electrical problems and whose replacement is limited by the U.S. economic, commercial and financial blockade.

As announced by the entity on Twitter, this initiative will give a useful and improved life to the equipment, which is used in the control of parameters such as temperature, humidity, weight, heart rate and oxygen saturation.

As a result of the application of the U.S. blockade against Cuba, the Caribbean island does not have access to medical technologies of U.S. origin or with more than 10 % of components from that country, a situation reflected, for example, in the denial of access to pulmonary ventilators, essential for the treatment of COVID-19.

Faced with this limitation, Combiomed, a Cuban digital medical technology company, developed a prototype of a high-performance lung ventilator produced in Cuba.

The Swiss companies IMT MEDICAL AG and ACUTRONIC MEDICAL SYSTEMS AG, world leaders in the development and manufacture of medical equipment and which previously did business with Cuba, were acquired by VYAIRE MEDICAL INC. and have been forced to suspend all commercial relations with the Caribbean nation.

The Commercial Import and Export Company of Medical Products MEDICuba S.A. has contacted the seven companies that are part of its Suppliers Portfolio requesting to update the documentation to give continuity to the commercial relations; only ELI LILLY issued a response, rejecting to continue as a supplier of MEDICuba, which has ratified this 2021.

It also contacted more than 70 U.S. companies about the possibilities of importing medicines, equipment and other supplies needed by the National Health System; the vast majority did not react and three responded arguing that they could not establish commercial ties with Cuban entities due to the blockade.

From April to December last year alone, losses to the health sector were in the order of 198, 348,000 dollars, a figure that represents 38,087,120 dollars more in comparison with what was reported in the previous period (160,260,880 dollars).