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New Cuban technology to
control diabetes
PHOTOS: Juvenal Balán
A new manufacturing plant for biosensors, which
measure the level of glucose in a diabetes patient’s
blood, was inaugurated July 22. The facility is a
product of Cuba’s collaboration with China, and the
inauguration was included among activities scheduled
for President Xi Jinping recent visit.
The plant, attached to the Immunoassay Center (CIE),
will allow for the distribution of sensors to some
800,000 known diabetics in the country. The modern
facility’s creation came as a result of a government
decision to make this type of equipment available to
patients, to support better management of the
disease with regular measurement of glucose in the
blood, via a simple procedure which the patient can
perform personally.
The kit includes the glucometer, lancets and
reactive strips.
Once the finger has been punctured, a
drop of blood is deposited on the
reactive strip. The glucometer has the capacity to
store multiple readings,
allowing the patient and medical staff to monitor
evolution of the disease.
The first step in the production
process is chemically printing electrodes.
Some 300 sheets, enough for 120 sensors, will be
manufactured on a daily basis.
Reactive substances are added
manually, a delicate, precise process.
Currently, only type 1 (insulin dependent) diabetics
have access to the kit which includes a glucose
meter (to perform the measurement), lancets (to
puncture the skin and obtain a drop of blood to
test) and reactive strips. The new plant will make
supplying all diabetics possible, according to
Niurka Carlos Pías MS, CIE director.
The sensors will be manufactured in Cuba, as a
result of the transference of Cuban biotechnology in
cooperation with the Chinese company SINOCARE.
Annual production will begin with 20 million units,
although the possibility exists of reaching 100
million, explained engineer and plant manager
Idalmelis Castillo.
Like other CIE products, designed to meet the needs
of Cuba’s public health system, the biosensors will
be available at subsidized prices in the country’s
network of pharmacies, thanks to income from exports
by the state enterprise
BioCubaFarma, which in 2013 surpassed a value 52
million de pesos.
(Granma Internacional news staff)
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