The Cuban health authorities admitted several problems that hinder the manufacture of medicines and cause a shortage that, despite official efforts, lacks a short-term solution, it was learned this Saturday.
The president of BioCubafarma State GroupEduardo Martínez Díaz, told a parliamentary committee that “intense work is being done to solve the many shortcomings, which will not be immediate.”
Cuba has a state health system with general coverage that must also meet the drug needs of one of the oldest populations in Latin America.
Martínez Díaz reported that “until the month of April 143 medicines are missing in one or more provinces of the nation“.
He explained that due to the country’s economic situation – which is suffering the worst crisis in decades, with a 13% drop in its gross domestic product – the Basic List of Medications (authorized to be marketed and used in hospitals) was reduced from 757 to 627, “postponing” the manufacture of some.
He specified that, that adjusted basic table of 627 drugs, currently 369 are produced.
He cited as the main causes of the problem “the unavailability of raw materials and necessary materials (94%), and plant shutdowns due to breakage or maintenance (6%)”.
This is due to “the lack of financing, problems with payment to suppliers and interruptions in supply due to the impact of the blockade” of the United States on Cuba, he pointed out.
“We are clear that when any of our relatives lack a medicine at home, nothing replaces that lack,” Health Minister José Angel Portal acknowledged before a parliamentary commission, according to the official Cubadebate site.
But, he assured, the authorities are “making enormous efforts to guarantee the functioning of the health system.”
The National Assembly of People’s Power (unicameral Parliament) began an extraordinary two-day session this Saturday, without access to the foreign press. On Friday, the permanent commissions met previously, such as the Health and Sports Commission, to which Minister Portal reported.