Minnesota seeks medical and scientific collaboration with Cuba

Medical coronaviruses

Photo: Linares

A resolution introduced in the legislature of the US state of Minnesota calls for medical and scientific collaboration with Cuba to confront COVID-19, Cubaminrex reported.

The document, authored by State Senators Sandra Pappas and Patricia Torres Ray, requests that the Minnesota Governor, Democrat Tim Walz, guide the Department of Health and other agencies to investigate the potential of collaboration with the Greater Antilles, to obtain crucial assistance and experience that benefits the residents of the state, in the midst of the current health crisis.

The resolution calls for the Minnesota legislature to call on Congress and the United States presidency to lift restrictions that prevent access to Cuban medical expertise, including the import of Recombinant Interferon Alpha-2B.

The text, presented last Friday and sent to the Minnesota Senate Finance and Health Policy and Human Services Committee for consideration, urges other North American territories to join this action and approve the same or similar documents.

Cuba has a long history of providing healthcare to other countries and a large part of its medical staff is now intimately involved in the fight against COVID-19 as part of the Henry Reeve International Medical Brigade, specially trained against disasters and serious epidemics, he stressed.

Regarding Recombinant Interferon Alpha-2B, the resolution points out that Cuba offers treatment regimens that use this drug, which has not been approved for use in the United States.

The text recognizes that this drug is a crucial component of antiviral treatment to combat the new coronavirus and that more than 80 nations have shown interest in acquiring it.

Likewise, he recalls that the blockade imposed by the United States on Cuba almost 60 years ago “has severely restricted collaboration in scientific and medical research,” noting that Minnesotans would benefit from the island’s medical experience, as they have done. many countries in the world.

(With information from Cuba Minrex)