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The blockade, a policy against life
Photo: Jose M. Correa
For
those who still insist on calling it an economic
embargo, a glance at the report on the effects of
this irrational U.S. policy in areas such as public
health, due to be presented next month at the UN, is
enough to dismiss this euphemism or at the very
least call it into question.
 In
a country such as Cuba, where the health system is a
universal right for all without discrimination
rather than a business that lines a few pockets, the
prohibitions or difficulties in acquiring certain
medicines, replacement parts for diagnostic and
medical equipment, instruments and other supplies,
can not in any way be seen as simple economic
sanctions.
The
report on resolution 68/8 of the United Nations
General Assembly entitled, “The need to put an end
to the Economic, Commerical and Financial Blockade
imposed by the United States of America on Cuba,”
highlights that only some of the effects can be
calculated in monetary terms, but these are by no
means insignificant.
According to estimates by the Ministry of Public
Health (MINSAP), between April 2013 and June 2014,
the economic cost of the blockade on Cuba was 66.5
million dollars, not to mention the fact that each
of the obstacles or limitations the blockade implies
puts human lives at risk.
Amongst the examples highlighted in the report are
the difficulties faced by the National Center for
Medical Genetics in purchasing equipment and
reagents necessary for the adequate functioning of
its laboratories, which has direct repercussions on
the development of the national program for
diagnosis, control and prevention of genetic
diseases and congenital disorders.
The
Molecular Biology Laboratory in particular, faces a
series of obstacles in acquiring reagents supplied
by U.S. firms. Amongst these are single-strand
conformation polymorphism gels (SSCP) and blood
pressure monitors with silver, used for diagnosis of
diseases such as cystic fibrosis, congenital adrenal
hyperplasia, galactosemia and others.
Added to these is the complete medium Amniomax, used
to cultivate prenatal human cells, which guarantees
the study of chromosomes in pregnant women over the
age of 37 or with diseases identified by
ultrasounds. A further institution, the William
Soler Children's Heart Center, has been unable to
acquire top quality nutrients such as aminosteril,
which is particularly important for pre and post
surgery treatment of undernourished patients with
complex and critical heart diseases. This medicine
is only produced by ABBOTT Laboratories, a U.S.
company.
The
Institute of Hematology and Immunology is
responsible for diagnosing an average of 72 cases of
leukemia in children per year, 75 % of which are
acute lymphoids. The center is unable to access the
best treatment for these conditions, L-asparaginase
enzyme, or derive it from the Escherichia coli
bacteria, as they are banned in Cuba due to being
produced in the United States.
These situations and the right to life are motives
for the demand for an end to the blockade,
reiterated every year. These are not economic
sanctions, as those attempting to justify them have
claimed over the past five decades, but rather
represent a cruel policy which seeks to break the
will of a country that chose to decide its own
destiny by any means necessary. (Granma)
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