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A young Cuban woman asked for help on Facebook to get medications to treat chronic lupus erythematosus suffered by her mother, who is going through a severe crisis of her illness due to medicine shortage at the island’s pharmacies.
“Generally I project myself in a positive and happy way, both in the networks and in my personal life, because that’s the way I am, I am not hurting or begging, I know well how to solve my problems, but I have nothing left to do,” explained Lianny Enriquez, the author of the post.
He related that his mother became ill 31 years ago, after the death of her male son due to medical negligence in 1988, at the Santa Clara Children’s Hospital.
“This that you see in the photo is my mother’s back, Gisela, she has been living 31 years with this Chronic Lupus Erythematosus, a disease that exploded due to nerves, due to the death of my only male brother, due to medical negligence in the infant of Santa Clara on 7/2/88, “he said.
“And since a mother cannot be convinced that her son was not killed, my mother buried my brother 8 months pregnant with me and a month later on 8/1/88, she had me, but his pain made this disease that became chronic stronger, “said Enriquez.
He indicated that the Lupus It affects her mother’s blood cells and nervous system, who also suffers from asymptomatic hypertension.
“To alleviate itching, burning, and pain, she must cycle prednisone and she needs a lot of triamcinolone cream as a steroid,” she stressed in her request for help.
Likewise, he said that the patient needs to take vitamins to keep her defenses elevated, and affirmed that “all this is lacking a long time ago” in the network of national pharmacies, so that her mother “is very ill.”
“I ask for favor and with tremendous shame and helplessness, to anyone who can help, please let me know,” said Lianny, who assures that “there is nowhere to get medicine.”
Her post has been answered by dozens of Facebook users who have promised to help her, but sending medications to the island is complicated by the coronavirus pandemic and the current border closure.
Last week the Cuban government acknowledged that the country is going through the most difficult situation in the last four years in terms of national production of medicines.
The Minister of Public Health (MINSAP), José Ángel Portal Miranda, said that in June 116 drugs (19%) were missing from the basic table sold in the country’s pharmacies, but it was justified that this problem also affects other nations.
He reported that since the first months of 2020 the number of absences and low drug coverage have increased, until reaching “the most unfavorable situation in the last four years, even though in the last two months there has been some improvement”.
As usual, the official again held the US embargo and the COVID-19 pandemic responsible for the crisis facing the Cuban biopharmaceutical industry.
The lack of medicines has been added to the general shortage of food and basic necessities on the island, which is in phase 2 of economic recovery after the pandemic.
When they fill medications at pharmacies, “queues are worse than buying chicken,” say some patients who have sometimes had to resort to natural and traditional medicine to try to replace conventional drugs.
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