There is no dipyrone, gentamicin, or benadrylin: The medications that right now “are conspicuous by their absence” in Cuba

The shortage of medicines in Cuban pharmacies is a reality. “The crowds that we currently see in front of pharmacies alone explain the degree of desperation we have reached,” said Cuban doctor and writer Laidi Fernández de Juan.

In a text recently published on the portal of La Jiribilla, Fernández regrets that in Cuban pharmacies “there is almost nothing.” “Just two types of oral antibiotics, and the occasional hypotensive agent", wrote.

“While it is true that in the first quarter of the year the announcement of the difficult situation that we would face with the supply of medicines appeared in the press, after that article—which was not very well understood, by the way— since he spoke of financial difficulties at the same time when the increase in the number of tourists we had received was confirmed (much greater than in the same period of the previous year)—, nothing more is said, officially. But on the street, everyone comments.”

The shortage of medications that can be replaced by similar ones is not very critical at first, explains the doctor.

“As would be the case of the antihistamines (diphenhydramine or benadryline, despite the drowsiness it causes, is the queen of that family, and with it, all allergic manifestations are attenuated), of the analgesics (it would be enough to have dipyrone on hand, without having to resort to ibuprofen, naproxen, or indomethacin), and as for the ointments and ointments"With a topical steroid (triamcinolone), an antibiotic (gentamicin) and an antifungal (miconazole), we would get rid of almost all skin conditions."

But none of these examples are “in stock.”, he assures.

Today, he continues, there is no availability of medications to treat stationary rhinitis known as coryza, nor for headache or other types of pain, nor for dermatitis of any etiology, to which is added the complete lack of anxiolytics, antidepressants and sleep inducers.

"Continuing with the thesis of savings, in this case choosing a "nerve reliever" capable of replacing alprazolam, for example, or chlordiazepoxide, or trifluoperazine, or the always beloved meprobamate, let's say that we would select the diazepam, known as Valium in the movies.”

In this sense, the famous narrator clarifies that, with all these substitutes, she has reduced “the first aid kit to a minimum”, leaving out two main lines: “a dispensable one, which consists of healing materials such as cotton, gauze, tape, antiseptics such as mercurochrome , thimerosal, iodine, gentian violet and aseptile red.”

“This can be supplied with laundry soap, sugar, and a piece of old sheet. I guess families with naughty boys and playful girls are using these traditional remedies, because right now, there is no other way to soothe a scrape. The other line deserves independent comment, due to the extreme seriousness it implies.”

The author refers to the medications regulated by the well-known card, a means by which the Public Health system guarantees the periodic delivery of medications to people with chronic diseases.

“Diabetics can die without insulin, hypertensive people are exposed to serious complications if they do not have the hypotensive agent that controls their blood pressure, gout sufferers can suffer very painful episodes when they stop taking their medications, and asthmatics without bronchodilators (note: we are the fifth country in the world in incidence of asthma), present the worst picture of said disease, called “State of asthmatic illness”, potentially lethal,” he explains.

For several months, says Fernández, “we stopped having amlodipine and enalapril (for hypertensive patients), oral hypoglycemic agents (for diabetes) and salbutamol spray, vital for asthmatics. Nor is there sufficient quantity of allopurinol for gouty patients, amantadine for Parkinson's patients, or timolol to combat glaucoma."

In a general sense, The shortage of essential medicines remains anchored, making it frankly difficult to carry out complete treatment, as it should be, think.

According to comments from their loved ones, neighbors, and relatives, certain medications “will never again be seen by our eyes, such as furosemide, dipyrone, meprobamate, nitropental, and sodium picosulfate drops.”

Sometimes, the corresponding entities inform the population that “the order” arrived in the afternoon, and that it will be sold the next morning. “Very early, the sufferers come in droves, and it turns out that what came no longer exists, because at the last minute, the warehouse manager decided to ship it at night”, he narrates.

To summarize, the doctor considers that there are multiple causes of the current shortage of medicines, and clarifies that it is good to point out that neither the medical staff nor the pharmacy clerks are to blame for the problem.

“We have shown enough signs of being understanding. It is time for them to inform us when the pharmacy will be normalized, so that it has "everything", "something" and not like now, when it has "almost nothing", "he concluded.