MADRID, Spain. – A lack of resources and medications in hospitals makes the dengue fever crisis in Cuba more difficult to control every day.
According to statements made by Santiago de Cuba physicians to Radio Televisión Martí, the situation is “chaotic” and “out of control.”
“There are no resources whatsoever here. There is no ambulance service to transport patients to the city of Santiago de Cuba. There is only one ambulance for the whole municipality. There are no medications. Already, the situation is critical,” stated Dr. Roberto Serrano, of the Songo la Maya area.
Dr. Serrano also stated that several persons have died of hemorrhaging dengue fever in that region.
Niurka Carmona, an intensive-care nurse in Palma Soriano, explained that in light of the collapse of the Ambrosio Grillo Clinical Surgery Hospital, two schools had to be readied to take care of patients.
Speaking about the medications crisis, Carmona stated that they “don’t even have antihistamines or dipyrone painkillers.”
As far as the hygiene conditions necessary to prevent reproduction of the dengue-transmitting mosquito, she stated that garbage is piled up on the streets because there is no fuel for the garbage trucks to make pick-up rounds.
In early September, the Ministry of Public Health (MINSAP, by its English acronym) informed the public that an increase of dengue fever cases was forecast for the months of October and November in the island.
Clarilda Peña García, vice minister of Public Health, admitted that the country is going through “a difficult moment,” and “we are heading toward the most complex period for this disease, since the cycle peaks in late October and early November with a large vector wave and people ill with dengue fever.”
According to health authorities, at present there is dengue fever transmission in 14 provinces, 41 municipalities, and 58 health areas in the country. The provinces with the largest number of cases reported are Santiago de Cuba, Havana, Las Tunas, Guantánamo, Camagüey, Matanzas and the special municipality of Isle of Youth.
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