He Ministry of Public Health will apply a reduction in in-person staff in hospitals and polyclinics, along with the creation of medical brigades in the municipalities, as part of a package of measures to guarantee health care in Cuba in the midst of the severe energy crisis.
Minister of Public Health José Ángel Portal Miranda during his intervention in the program Good morning from Cuban televisionexplained that the reduction in personnel seeks to reduce mobility within medical institutions, as well as electricity consumption.
However, he clarified, it will be done “without compromising essential services,” and that the strategy takes up experiences applied during the COVID-19 pandemic, when the permanence in the centers of the specialists who lived closest was prioritized.
Among the main actions, the ministry plans to provide greater solutions to problems at the municipal level. To do this, health professionals will temporarily change their usual functions and travel to the communities where the patients reside, with the aim of reducing population transfers.
Likewise, mobile medical brigades will be formed, similar to those activated during hurricanes or other contingencies, which will remain for certain periods in the most needy territories.
Surgical activity will decrease
The plan also includes a reduction in elective surgical activity. Portal Miranda explained that only surgeries that cannot be postponed, urgent or emergent will be maintained, due to their high demand for electricity and the need to guarantee safe conditions for patients, especially in intensive care and observation areas.
In the epidemiological field, the minister announced an increase in the production of sodium hypochlorite, given possible difficulties in access to drinking water. The measure seeks to ensure the disinfection of water in homes and reduce health risks associated with the consumption of unsafe water.
“We know that there may be problems with the water supply and that the population may have to access unsafe water, so that they can chlorinate it with hypochlorite,” he said.
The actions are part of the Cuban Government’s response to the energy crisis aggravated by the lack of crude oil imports since December, in a context that forces it to reorganize basic services.
Faced with this scenario, the Government has responded with a package of emergency measures that includes fuel rationing, the reduction of public services and the prioritization of essential activities in sectors such as health, water service and defense.
Cuba responds with survival measures to the challenge of an energy collapse designed by the US
“As there is not enough fuel, we cannot maintain the sales levels that we had in previous weeks,” acknowledged Deputy Prime Minister Óscar Pérez-Oliva Fraga during the Round Table broadcast last Friday.
“We are not going to collapse, because the Cuban people are not collapsing,” said the deputy prime minister, before announcing that the Government will facilitate the procedures for private companies “that have the possibility” to import their own fuel. And he stressed that the State will distribute solar panels to essential workers, social centers and banks.
