US blockade worsens medicine shortage in Cuba

One of the main factors for the current shortage of medicines in Cuba is due to the economic, commercial, and financial blockade imposed and tightened by the United States Government against the island.

BioCubafarma President Eduardo Martínez explained that in the case of financing raw materials, although we having the money, there are problems in paying suppliers because the banks refuse to work with Cuba.

That position is due to the US blockade, a unilateral policy of the United States, Martínez said, quoted by Granma newspaper.

The shortage of raw materials and supplies necessary for production accounts for 95 percent of the lack of medicines this year.

The executive stated that the remaining five percent are related to stoppages in the production plants due to breakdowns or maintenance.

Washington is doing everything to prevent foreign currency from entering Cuba. If we do not have those incomes, purchasing raw materials is impossible, and our factories cannot produce them.

Of more than 1,000 medicines BioCubaFarma produces nowadays, about 795 are destined for the national health system, and 383 are on Cuba’s basic medicine list.