HAVANA, September 26 (Luis Viño Zimerman, UPECI / CubaNet) - Cuban
medical personnel seldom have sterile gloves available when they need them,
making what would normally be routine procedures difficult or impossible to
perform.
The scarcity can be traced to a Public Health Ministry decision in 1999 to
quit importing the gloves, relying instead on the output of a factory in Las
Tunas, central Cuba, that was supposed to produce 12 million pairs a year.
The factory, however, is operating at a quarter of its capacity due to
shortcomings in the way it was set up, according to a knowledgeable source.
"In order to bring it up to speed, the factory needs an investment of
at least 23,000 dollars," said the source.
While officials debate the issue, the only medical personnel that seem to
have unlimited access to the gloves are those working in "health tourism,"
taking care of foreigners who pay in dollars.
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