CAMAGÜEY. -To have a trans-esophageal echocardiogram, more accurate and reliable in diagnosing heart conditions, the people of Camagüey must now move to the province of Villa Clara, as the Philips brand equipment with that functionality succumbed after so many ears of use.

Since the North American subsidiary Philips Electronics of North America Corporation was fined in accordance with the restrictions of the blockade of the United States government against Cuba in 2009, with no possibility of purchasing the spare parts, the ultrasound apparatus was kept working thanks to the inventiveness of the electromedicine specialists.

It was active since 2007 and no longer responded to those efforts, explained Dr. Ángel Miranda Fragoso, head of cardiology at the Manuel Ascunce Domenech University Hospital in the province of Camagüey, who suffers from the powerlessness of seeing how that policy affects the service he is running.

About 40 people from Camagüey are on the waiting list to have a surgery at the Ernesto Che Guevara Heart Center, in the city of Santa Clara, because of the lack of resources such as the specific mechanical valves for those suffering from valve diseases, which can lead to death if not treated in time, added the specialist.

Due to the restrictions of the economic, financial and commercial blockade against Cuba, we must buy them in distant markets and at higher prices, because of the risk of penalties assumed by the companies to sell to our country, illustrated the doctor, whose love for work makes him see each case from the personal point of view.

It is very hard the responsibility to decide who will have the surgery before and who will be waiting, based on the condition of their pathology, because they are all human beings that leave a mark on our hearts, said the young doctor.

According to the report of Cuba against the blockade corresponding to 2018, which will be presented soon, as every year, before the UN General Assembly, on April 5th , 2018  it was requested to the Cook Medical Company the purchase different inputs.

Cardiac valves, such as those described by Miranda, are on the application list, which was denied by Cook Medical when eluding that their products are not available for sale or distribution in the Cuban market.
More than 134,499,800,000 dollars is estimated to amount to the quantifiable amount of the blockade against Cuba, in addition to the incalculable human cost for nearly six decades of the Policy's Validity.