The comedian Limay Blanco once again expressed his solidarity with the suffering of the people in Cuba and shared a petition from a visually impaired individual who urgently needs medication to avoid becoming completely blind.
Jorge Rodríguez, 63 years old and a resident of the 10 de Octubre municipality in Havana, reached out to the comedian via email, explaining the urgency of obtaining a medication called timolol to prevent total loss of vision in his only functional eye, Blanco posted on Facebook.
"In 2020, due to the shortage of medications and the lack of access to dorzolamide with timolol, I lost nearly all vision in the only eye I have left," explained the man, who reported that the situation affects people with glaucoma, as we are unable to control intraocular pressure.
Both medications are used to treat glaucoma, a condition that affects intraocular pressure in the eye.
Amid a significant shortage of medications that particularly impacts the elderly, Rodríguez expressed regret over once again lacking the drug: “I wonder if, through your humanitarian efforts and with God's help, it would be possible to obtain dorzolamide with timolol or, if not, just timolol, since I have access to dorzolamide from another source,” Rodríguez emphasized.
"I am deeply concerned, as I rely on a cane to move around, and this situation makes my daily life extremely difficult," expressed the man, who has fought against glaucoma for years and faces the government's inability to provide the necessary medications.
The disheartening situation of scarcity seems to have no end in sight. The Cuban leader Miguel Díaz-Canel confirmed last March that pharmacies will continue to be understocked and that there will be a lack of dozens of products from the essential medicine list.
"In light of the shortage of supplies and medications, the best response we can provide to our population during such challenging times is the quality of services. We will experience shortages; we will continue to face a lack of medications," he stated in a meeting with health sector officials.
One of the desperate measures implemented by the regime is to extend, until June 30, the non-commercial importation of food, hygiene products, medications, and medical supplies, exempt from tariffs and without limits on their value.
The long-awaited measure was announced during one of the most crucial and tense moments in the country, where the economic, social, and political crisis has intensified due to the growing food shortages, inflation, and the increase in power outages, which have exacerbated the hardships faced by the population.
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