Cuba Faces Shortage of Medicines due to Lack of Raw Material

Havana, Sept 14 (ACN) The lack of raw material is the main cause for the current shortage of medications in Cuba according to the president of the BioCubaFarma Biotech Conglomerate Eduardo Martinez.

Speaking at the prime-time TV show “The Round Table” Martinez said that companies with the conglomerate produce 996 drugs and 757 of them go to the national health system.

He noted that the shortage of medications this year is worse than in 2021 mainly due to the lack of raw material and the stoppages of production plants due to breakdowns and maintenance actions.

Martinez said that although the country counts on the necessary funds to purchase the raw material, foreign banks reject to do business with Cuba and this hinders the payment to the providers of raw material; all due to the impact of the US economic, commercial and financial blockade against the island nation.

Other reasons for the local medication shortage exposed by the executive include the limitation in the world to purchase some pharmaceutical resources along with the logistic effects related to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Meanwhile, the conglomerate and the local Health System are estimating the annual demand of medications for 2023, based on the use of available resources as each production company is adjusting their operation plans according to the current situation, he said.

BioCubaFarma biotech conglomerate includes 45 companies, 31 of them in Cuba and 14 abroad, operating 110 modern and high-standard production lines, while investment projects are underway to further expand production capacities.