The Blockade Prevents Children with Leukemia from Getting Medicine

The economic blockade imposed by the United States on Cuba affects the acquisition of alternative medicines for children with rapidly developing leukemia, stated Dr. José M. Ballester, general director of the Institute of Hematology and Immunology.

Between May 2011 and April 2012, the financial costs of the blockade for the health sector are calculated to have been about $10 million, with greater vulnerability for the youngest patients, specified the president of the Cuban Society of Hematology and Immunology.*

Due to the hostile politics of the American government, there are greater restrictions on North American organizations that try to ship donations of medicine, and giving adequate attention to the sick is harder, he said.

Another one of the genocidal policy’s variants includes the denial of the delivery of reactives to carry out investigations and controls on a World Health Organization panel. Cuba is excluded from this benefit, unlike the rest of the countries, Ballester explained.

The scientist referred to the numerous lists of obstacles derived from Washington’s policies as burdens on the Caribbean island. These burdens persistently prevent Cuban doctors, nurses and sanitary technicians from assisting their American counterparts at training centers in the United States.

Likewise, he spoke of the difficulties that North American scientific personalities face when seeking permission to participate in international conferences that are held in Cuba. North American representation is presently almost null, even when a mutual interest exists for an exchange of experiences.

With high humanist feeling, the Cuban doctor considers it necessary to put an end to the blockade in order to acquire medications and other products in Third World countries.

That way, he said, they would be able to prevent the blockade’s sometimes-grave effects — grave not only from an economic point of view, but also because they include delays that interrupt the treatment of malignant hemophilia.

*Editor’s Note: The correct name of this organization is the Cuban Society of Hematology.