U.S. blockade affects drug production in Cuba

Havana, March 18 (RHC)-- One of the cruelest effects of the U.S. blockade against Cuba is its impact on the availability of medicines on the Caribbean island.

Mayda Mauri Pérez, first vice-president of the BioCubaFarma Business Group, said that despite exceeding its export plans in 2021, it was unable to make use of part of that income due to the blockade, which affected payment to suppliers and, as a result, the supply of medicines to the national health system.

Mauri told the press that of the financial resources available last year, half of them were used to develop and produce the vaccines against COVID-19 and the drugs of the treatment protocol for that disease.

She pointed out that they could only count on 50 percent of the financing needed to acquire the raw materials for the drugs included in the essential list.

The Executive of BioCuba Farma explained that as of September, after completing all the doses of anti-COVID-19 vaccines to immunize the Cuban population, they began to be available for export and donation to sister countries.

However, the economic, commercial, and financial siege prevented the transfer of those revenues to the country, as most banks receive extreme pressures due to U.S. policy.

Also, during 2021 many suppliers refused to provide raw materials to the island nation, in some cases alluding to the industry's debts, which sometimes are because there are no banking structures that want to trade with Cuba and payments cannot be made, Mauri Pérez pointed out.

The first vice-president of BioCubaFarma mentioned that other suppliers refused to sell to Cuba due to their relations with the U.S. government.

For 2022, she said, the situation is complex since 50 percent of the income obtained in the previous year has not yet been received, and the quantities of raw materials and supplies needed to stabilize the supply of medicines have not been acquired.

The Executive pointed out that given this situation, the entity in its commercial and business activity, as in the rest of the processes, has been forced to appeal to creativity and innovation to look for solutions to use the resources generated by exports.

Mauri Pérez insisted that all the doses of anti-COVID-19 vaccines are guaranteed to complete the primary immunization of the population and to administer the booster dose.