Egypt will export insulin injections to Cuba

Egypt will begin exporting insulin injections to Cuba for the treatment of diabetes.

Khaled Abdel Ghaffar, Egypt's housing minister, told Arab News that the country wants to expand the pharmaceutical market in Latin America, and that a new phase of fruitful cooperation between his country and Cuba now begins.

"This achievement is significant because it represents the first presence of an Arab-African-Egyptian company that supplies medicines to Cuba..." said the official.

Insulinagypt, Egyptian-made human insulin, will be exported through United Company for Pharmaceuticals, a subsidiary of the Arab pharmaceutical group ACDIMA, which will act as Egypt's representative for pharmaceutical exports to Cuba.

Dr. Alfat Garab, president of ACDIMA, said that his company encompasses a group of leading pharmaceutical manufacturing companies, and its products are distributed in 80 countries.

"We are delighted to collaborate with the Cuban side and we are willing to cooperate with many Latin American countries," he expressed.

For his part, Ahmed Shawkat, deputy minister of health of Egypt, explained that Egyptian insulin controls a market share that ranges between 12 and 18 million vials per year and is already exported to 11 African countries.

"Providing human insulin to Cuba is of great importance for both Egypt and Cuba, and symbolizes a transcendent example of cooperation between the two countries," he noted.

"In addition, the export of Egyptian insulin to Cuba not only serves as a stimulus for bilateral cooperation, but also represents a crucial step in providing life-saving treatment to people suffering from the long burden of diabetes, which affects millions of people. all over the world," he added.

In January 2023, entrepreneurs and Cuban officials visited Egypt to promote medical cooperation with that country.

The delegation was chaired by the Vice Minister of Health, Luis Navarro, and had the objective of "strengthening cooperative relations in health matters between both countries."

The economic crisis in Cuba has hit the pharmaceutical industry hard, causing a serious shortage of medications such as insulin, which is very important in the treatment of diabetes, as it helps keep blood glucose under control.

At the beginning of last June, a woman demanded answers from the government about the lack of insulin since his mother, an insulin-dependent diabetic With treatment of 30 units a day, he could not buy it at his pharmacy in Peñas Altas, in the Habana del Este municipality, because there was no availability.

"Who answers this?" asked Isleibis Rodríguez Leiva, who was explained at the pharmacy that he would lose the right to purchase medication controlled by card when the month ends.

"For a long time they have not sold insulin, alcohol, or syringes to patients, but through their own efforts they are bought or obtained, but I don't know where to find slow insulin," he said.

A few days later, a mother reported on the Internet that at the Marianao Pediatric Hospital, in Havana, They gave him expired insulin for his diabetic son.

"I have a two-year-old diabetic child. Today his father went to get his insulin and they gave him expired insulin. We have been giving him expired insulin for two months," said Bárbara Castellano.

The woman, concerned about the reaction that the expired medication could cause in her child, wrote alerting other mothers who could be in the same situation as hers.

According to him, he gave his little boy this type of slow insulin every night, but at the same time he feared for his health.