Saudi Arabia, Cuba Interested on Boosting Health Cooperation

Representatives of Saudi Arabia and Cuba expressed here today their willingness to strengthen bilateral cooperation in health, a sector in which this country recognized the high level reached by the island. Saudi Health Minister, Khalid bin Abdulaziz Al-Falih, discussed with Cuban ambassador to Riyadh, Enrique Enriquez, the current state of those ties in that area, and agreed to assess the possible implementation of a comprehensive care program for patients with diabetic foot ulcers.

A note from the Caribbean country´s embassy stated that Al-Falih conveyed his recognition due to the high level and experience reached by Cuba in the field of public health, and confirmed the interest of his country to keep working to strengthen bilateral cooperation ties.

The Arab minister particularly mentioned the expansion of the presence in this Gulf country of Cuban health professionals and the development of joint actions, using the scientific capacity and the results obtained by the biopharmaceutical industry of the island, the source noted.

In this regard, the implementation of the referred program to treat diabetic foot ulcer would be defined by using the Cuban medicine Heberprot-P.

Recent studies state that there are 3.8 million people suffering from diabetes in Saudi Arabia, and an average of 4,000 amputation surgeries are annually performed due to this disease.