As part of the «Oxygen for Cuba» campaign», Aissa Naranjo, a general practitioner in Havana and a member of our Cuban partner organisation, the Centro Félix Varela, speaks about the impact of the blockade on the fight against Covid-19.
Yes, it is common knowledge that the blockade causes harm in many ways. The blockade had already caused a great deal of damage on other occasions, and even more so now … and many Cubans have already spoken out against it.
Let us suppose that Cuba is unable to produce a particular medicine itself, and that the raw materials must be obtained through third parties in distant countries, far from here. And that they often have to be imported via informal channels from India and China. It is very difficult for Cuba to acquire medicines or raw materials, even though these are on sale very close by, in the United States.
At present, whilst we are being hit hard by COVID-19, we are calling on people who know how to make face masks, because we do not have the necessary industrial textile production capacity ourselves. And how much closer to home can we buy them?
Yes, it is clear that the blockade is having an impact everywhere. It affects us when we buy the medicines themselves and the raw materials needed to produce them.
We have therefore been forced to develop our own medicines – more modern medicines – which we are developing by solving the problems ourselves.
And now the same thing is happening with ventilators. By bringing together technicians and engineers to produce medical equipment, they have rallied to come up with a solution and thus ensure that there would be more machines available than the estimated number required. We still do not know how many patients we will have who will need to be placed on ventilators, as the «peak» has not yet been reached. Our curve is still rising, although we are gradually, at last, reaching the «plateau». But we do not know how many patients will need to be placed on ventilators.
One thing is certain: the «track and trace» system will have a significant impact. Admitting patients who do not have severe symptoms to hospital will prove to be very beneficial.
But let there be no doubt that the blockade is causing us very serious harm.
Testimony recorded in April 2020.
