US blockade hinders Cuba’s access to medical supplies

United Nations, Jan 6.- Due to the US blockade, Cuba is being denied access to much needed medical supplies in Covid-19 times, the country’s diplomatic mission to the UN denounced.

 

In a statement, the Cuban delegation highlights the numerous occasions in which the country was unable to acquire technologies, raw materials, reagents, diagnostic means, medicines, devices, equipment and spare parts necessary in the fight against the Covid-19 pandemic.

‘Not having the right medicine or technology to care for a disease, at the time needed to save a life, causes suffering and despair in patients and their families. Such pain can never be quantified,’ the Cuban diplomats noted.

In February 2020, when the Import and Export Company of Medical Products (Medicuba S.A.) approached its suppliers requesting to update the documentation to give continuity to the commercial relations, five of those companies did not respond.

According to the text issued by the Cuban permanent mission to the UN, only Eli Lilly and Bayer answered.

Eli Lilly refused to continue as supplier of Medicuba, and the latter informed that it should request a new license from the US Office of Foreign Assets Control for the new contracts.

Medicuba also contacted 50 US companies to inquire about the possibilities of importing drugs, equipment and other supplies. (Prensa Latina)