Cuba Health System to Improve Services despite US Blockade

 Havana, Oct 31 (ACN) Despite the impact by the US economic, commercial and financial blockade, the Cuban health system looks forward to improving services for the people.

During the prime-time TV show “The Round Table,” deputy health minister Tania Margarita Cruz detailed the current challenges facing the health system.

The improvement of the people’s health, the increase of sanitation actions, international collaboration and training of professors are some of the areas to address, said the official.

To meet its legal and social duties and thus guarantee health services to all the people, the Cuban system counts on half a million workers, a large number technical and professional personnel in some 451 healthcare centers, 150 hospitals and 113 dentistry clinics as well as 37 medical faculties in all provinces.

Cruz considered it crucial to prioritize attention to premature mortality caused by non-transmissible diseases, as well as to senior citizens, children and adolescents.

Meanwhile, deputy health minister Reinol Delfin addressed challenges like inefficiency and lowering activity in local hospitals, problems with diagnostic means in primary healthcare centers, lack of medicines due to limited import of raw material as a consequence of the US blockade, as well as a deficit in the number of doctors.

At present the health scenario in Cuba is similar to the one previous to the COVID-19 pandemic while major diseases are cardiovascular and respiratory conditions as well as malign tumors.

Alternatives to the current scenario is the application of natural, traditional medicine, tapping students to join medical sciences and local and external collaboration.