Author Name: Carribean Channel, Cuba TV.
This story was originally published on canalcaribe.ict.cu. [1]

Medication subsidies are maintained for chronic diseases

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Date: 2021-10

With the application of the Monetary and Exchange Regulation Task, from the 1st. next January, the Cuban State will keep the retail prices of medicines associated with chronic diseases subsidized with permanent treatments, natural and traditional medicine products, and optical products, in order to avoid damage to the population, derived from the devaluation of the currency.

On these issues, Dr. Emilio Delgado Iznaga, Director of Medicines and Medical Technology of the Ministry of Public Health (Minsap), said that the basic table of medicines in the country for 2021 (adjusted for financial stress) is made up of 619 lines. Of these, 365 are of national production and 254 are imported. Similarly, 272 are sold in the pharmacy network and 347 are used in health institutions.

He pointed out that this table covers the different pharmacological groups, which in turn cover the main health problems of the Cuban population.

He commented that in order to carry out the monetary order, the basic framework for 2019 was taken into account, a little broader, consisting of 757 drugs, of which 265 were imported and 492 of national production. Of the total, 353 are for sale in pharmacies. It is, according to the doctor, a very expensive table of drugs, equivalent to more than 400 million dollars, and that from “the financial tensions we have faced, the resurgence of the blockade and the situation generated by COVID- 19 was affected, resulting in low coverage ”.

To determine the new prices, he said, the drugs were divided into three large groups:

I. Medications that are dispensed by control card in the pharmacy network and respond to chronic disease treatments. II. Medications that are used for long periods in patients with neurological and psychiatric diseases, among others. III. Medicines that respond to acute processes and their use occupies short periods, and others that are not included in the previous annexes.

Delgado Iznaga assured that only the drugs included in the third group modify the sale price, since the drugs considered in groups one and two maintain current prices, subsidized by the State Budget. The first group, he explained, contains 85 drugs, has 7,839,253 registrations and responds to the treatment of chronic diseases in 3,425,220 patients. This last figure represents 30% of the population with the main morbidity and mortality pathologies of the Cuban population.

Each patient in this group has, on average, 2.2 medications per card. “70% of all control card registrations are concentrated in 12 drugs, which tells us where to prioritize financing,” he added. Within this group, he said, there are 23 imported drugs and, to acquire them, the Minsap allocates 22.2 million dollars in order to maintain their availability.

In the case of insulin, for example, which has more than 200,000 enrolled patients, a bulb costs $ 3.84; however, the price for the population is 1.25 CUP.The second group includes 77 drugs that are indicated for long periods in patients with neurological and psychiatric diseases, nephropathies, HIV and cancer in its terminal stage, among others. “They are dispensed by prescription or medical certificate of the specialty, in the pharmacy network.” Antiretrovirals, specifically used by HIV patients, are used in Cuba by 25,818 people and the Ministry of Health uses $ 3.6 million to purchase 17 antiretrovirals. “The price of these in the pharmacy is zero, since they do not cost patients,” he said.

The third group comprises the 191 remaining lines of the basic table, which respond to acute processes, use in short periods of time, as in the case of antibiotics, antiparasitics and analgesics, in addition to others that are not included in the previous annexes. Regarding the basic table of Natural Products, he added that it has 172 lines, 61 of industrial production and 111 are produced locally.

These products include Abexol in tablets, Policosanol in 5, 10 and 20 mg tablets (PPG), AliviHos (all presentations), anticatarrhal syrups (Asmacán, Asmasán), Vimang aqueous extract, ozonized soap and bio-activating soap. The prices of natural products will be subsidized by the State Budget and maintain their current price.

And other products (not drugs), which are marketed in the pharmacy network, such as sanitary pads, condoms, colostomy bags, urine collection bags, syringes, Foley tubes, tracheostomy tubes, cotton, alcohol also keep their price intact. , biosensors, glucometers for diabetic patients, technical aids that are rented or sold, such as: Fowler beds, wheelchairs, mattresses, canes, walkers and buttocks, among other resources.Dr. Delgado reiterated that 46% (162) of the drugs sold in the pharmacy (353) will be subsidized by the State Budget and maintain their current price.

Meisi Bolaños Weiss, Minister of Finance and Prices, reiterated that all the products that are by card, controlled and complementary, maintain their current prices. “But it must be clarified that prices are not increased for the population, the retail trade, because all these products have a real increase in their prices and you have to pay the producing companies.

He asserted that these products have the effect of a devaluation of the currency, especially when the imported raw material has a high composition in its production, or when we need to directly import the product. He explained that in terms of medicines there is always around 7 billion, “because there is a subsidy on these products of 3 billion, but we cannot forget all the medicines that are delivered or used in the hospital network of our country, which are free, because they are part of the guaranteed right, but they also have a cost transformed by current conditions.

He insisted on the idea that medicine also carries economics. “We have to continue supporting the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industry in our country, because it will also be a way to lower costs in the production of medicines and will allow us to sell medicines to the population at lower prices than if we had to import them.”

(C) Cuba TV, Cuban state owned media.
[1] Url: https://www.canalcaribe.icrt.cu/en/medication-subsidies-are-maintained-for-chronic-diseases/

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