Sancti Spíritus hospitals refuse to use the medical supplies provided by the patients themselves if they are not previously approved by the Center for State Control of the Quality of Medicines (Cecmed). Daniel Álvarez Rojas, head of the Stomatology section in the province, admitted that they do not have the necessary resources, but that they cannot be held responsible if the medicine has been acquired on the black market or if it does not have quality certifications.
In an interview with EscambrayAlvarez Rojas confirmed that in Sancti Spíritus, as in the rest of the Island, the medical centers have no choice but to work with the medicines that the patients bring. In the case of his specialty, he explained, they allow amalgam or resin because “they do not compromise life”, but when it comes to using other supplies of dubious origin, such as anesthesia, the risk increases and the official decision in that case is not intervene.
Anesthesia, he warned, is administered directly to the nerve through infiltration techniques, for which only drugs certified by Cecmed are applied.
The measures to alleviate the shortage on the Island authorize the duty-free importation of food, toiletries and medicines. However, the newspaper adds, some “have ignored the ‘non-commercial’ warning and forget that certain medications, such as anesthesia, can put a person’s life at risk.”
“Sometimes, the way of administering this imported medicine is also very different from the one we use in Cuba, with different doses”
Escambray He acknowledges that “it is understandable” that more and more people from Sancti Spiritus turn to social networks to buy drugs in their “desperate attempt” to put an end to a toothache. The newspaper points out that “it is no longer surprising” to find on the Revolico classified portal the sale of bottles of dental anesthesia at prices between 500 and 600 pesos, along with other medicines for bronchiolitis, vitamins and even the antiparasitic metronidazole.
Álvarez Rojas explained that there are few occasions in which the vials carried by the patients can really be used in the treatments, because they lack key information for their use, such as the expiration date and the Cecmed certification. “Sometimes, the way of administering this imported medicine is also very different from the one we use in Cuba, with different doses,” he said.
In this way, people who go to the black market to buy an anesthesia bulb risk losing money, because no dentist will risk applying the drug without the minimum specifications, he warned.
The dentist pointed out that hospitals in the province are facing an anesthesia deficit, which they hope to temporarily overcome with the recent arrival of a batch on the island. The drug will be used for dental extraction and other treatments, added the professional, who believes that in this 2023 more imported inputs will enter. Of the supply available in 2022, he assured that attention to pregnant women, children under 19 years of age, the elderly and people with disabilities was prioritized.
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