THE Havana-based Medical-Surgical Research Centre (CIMEQ) carried out over 100 liver transplants last year, on patients between ages 12 to 62, and has announced a survival rate “comparable to that of international institutions”.

A report in Cuba’s State-owned Granma newspaper stated that CIMEQ was able to do the transplants in spite of the US Economic Blockade, which has hampered the centre’s ability to source much needed medical supplies.

The Cuban Liver Transplant Development Programme began in July 1999, and is provided free of charge to Cuban citizens.

The programme was based on a co-operation agreement between CIMEQ and Virgen del Rocio Hospital in Spain.

The Cuban government also helps many poor and not-so-poor people from the Caribbean and Latin America to obtain transplants through co-operation programmes.

For more than 15 years, citizens of Trinidad and Tobago have been going to Cuban hospitals seeking treatments not available locally.

Cuba-Solidarity, a Trinidad-based organisation set up to promote beneficial links between the peoples of Trinidad and Tobago and Cuba, has been organising trips for Trinidadians and Tobagonians, who wish to take advantage of the high quality medical care available in Cuba. One Cuba-Solidarity member told TnT Mirror he could not say exactly how many locals have travelled to Cuba for medical care.

“Many people approach the Cuban Embassy directly,” he said, and reminded Mirror that even Prime Minister Patrick Manning has visited Cuba for medical purposes.

He also said that he is “fairly certain” Trinis seeking organ transplants would be allowed to do so in Cuba.

CIMEQ Director Dr. Manuel Cepero Nogueira said the organ transplant programme is a major achievement of the Cuban National Health Care System.

Nogueira also praised the Aviation Authorities for the rapid transport of organs, and the Cuban Ministries of the Armed Forces and The Interior for their high-level of co-operation.

But it is not always plain sailing, as many of the supplies used are from the United States, and with the embargo still in effect, CIMEQ often faces difficulties in obtaining much-needed supplies.

US Authorities have been either denying permission to purchase the supplies, or simply delaying the necessary paperwork necessary for export to the island.

The Granma article named one large, US-based medical supplies manufacturer that has not even bothered to respond to a request from CIMEQ to purchase a machine manufactured exclusively by that company.

The machine is an essential tool used to monitor blood levels in child patients in need of liver transplants, a necessary procedure for the prevention of complications such as infections and secondary tumours.

However, Minister of Public Health Ramon Balaguer has re-affirmed the Cuban government’s commitment to providing free health care for the Cuban people and high quality health care for the rest of Latin America and the Caribbean through co-operation programmes.