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</font><h1><font size=4><b>Press Release 1</b></font></h1><h2><b>0th
October, 2007</b></h2><font size=3><b> <br>
Repercussions of the US blockade on the healthcare sector in Cuba<br>
</b> <br>
The most vulnerable sectors to the negative impact of the US blockade
have been food and healthcare, having a direct impact on the quality of
life of all Cubans.<br>
<br>
The vulnerable healthcare sector has been severely affected. During the
past year the damage to the Cuban health service caused by the blockade
in the period covered by this report is estimated at over 30 million
dollars. <br>
<br>
Medical institutions that provide treatment free of charge to the entire
population have been affected in several departments: emergency services,
care of critically ill, surgical units and other specialized services
(adult and pediatric), care of the mother-to-be, due to lack of access to
latest-generation diagnostic aids and medication, mostly produced in the
United States. Another factor is reduced ability to obtain 'Made in USA'
consumables, spare parts and essential equipment. For the same reason,
health promotion and disease prevention initiatives have been held back,
suffice it to mention only a few examples: <br><br>
ˇ Cuba's Ramón
Pando Ferrer ophthalmology institute was unable to acquire equipment
needed for studying the retina, marketed by Humphreys-Zeiss, and the drug
Visudyne, used to treat macular degeneration (a medical condition that
can result in blindness) among the elderly and marketed by Novartis. Both
companies, being American-owned and not being licensed for the purpose by
the US Treasury Department, expressed they were unable to export to Cuba.
Studies of the retinas of the patients concerned were seriously affected,
causing delays in decisions as to the therapy needed.<br>
<br>
ˇ Other areas of
Cuban medicine affected by the blockade include anaesthesia of children
undergoing surgery. Cuba is cannot acquire the Sevoflurane inhalatory
anaesthetic, patented with the trade name 'Sevorane', which has become
the standard drug for administering general anaesthesia to
children. The <br>
<br>
patent is owned by Abbot Laboratories, a US concern which, in compliance
with the sanctions legislation, does not sell to Cuba. Cuba has no
alternative but to use inferior substitutes, purchased in more remote
markets at, consequently, higher cost.<br>
<br>
ˇ For the same
reason, the US Saint-Jude firm suspended, among others<b>,</b> its
sales of prosthetic valves - cheaper and better quality - to the William
Soler paediatric heart hospital. The patients affected are children with
cardiac arrhythmia who need pacemakers that were obtained via this route.
<br>
<br>
ˇ US pressure has
induced other firms to suspend sales to Cuban concerns, and in other
cases involved the cancellation of licences. This happened in the case of
Med Tronic, which was compelled to stop selling external pacemakers to
Cuba, affecting children suffering from congenital or acquired arrhythmia
who need this device.<br>
<br>
ˇ A complex
situation as regards disease-vector control in Cuba at the end of 2006
called for urgent purchases at a higher cost than would have been
incurred if these supplies could have been sourced in the US market. The
extra cost in terms of higher prices and increased freight charges
totalled around $845,000 dollars.<br>
<br>
The following are some of the many cases in the public-health sector that
illustrate the extraterritorial nature of the sanctions:<br>
<br>
ˇ Following its
acquisition by America's General Electric, the Finnish firm Datex-Ohmeda,
manufacturer of excellent anaesthesia and multi-purpose monitoring
equipment, with which Cuba maintained business relations, announced that
it was banned from supplying equipment or spare parts to Cuba, on pain of
prosecution by the US Department of Justice. <br>
<br>
ˇ Cuba was
prohibited from obtaining equipment and other products normally purchased
by our Oncology & Radiology Institute from the regional division of
Merck tasked with analytical chemistry, when it was absorbed by a US
corporation. The results included repercussions on cancer and other
patients.<br>
<br>
<br>
New York, 10 October 2007<br>
<br><br>
<br><br>
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