The limitations for the manufacture of wheelchair rubber systems stand out among the effects of the U.S. economic, commercial and financial blockade against Cuba on the social integration programs for school-age children in Holguin.
These devices require specialized supports for turning and braking, mostly built by U.S. companies, which makes it difficult to acquire them in the international market and thus to change wheels, Alfonso Bermudez, vice president of the Cuban Association of Physically and Motorically Handicapped in the territory, told ACN.
Economic blockade limits production of wheelchairs in Holguín
He pointed out that severely disabled children living in rural areas and hard-to-reach areas are among the most affected, since, due to the conditions of the terrain, they periodically require the replacement of tires and inner tubes used by these means of support.
He pointed out that the genocidal policy prevents the purchase of other supplies such as foam rubber or specialized chairs to improve the mobility and comfort of patients with quadriplegia, paraplegia, cerebral palsy and other ailments.
There are also regulations for donations from North American non-governmental organizations such as Joni and Friends, which is dedicated to delivering these devices around the world, the executive explained.
Economic blockade limits production of wheelchairs in Holguín
Likewise, the blockade prevents spinal correction treatments, rehabilitation techniques, orthopedic footwear manufacturing, among other aspects included in the attention to these vulnerable groups, which have benefited from social programs promoted by the Cuban Revolution since 1959.
Holguín is the province in the country with the largest number of people with hearing, physical-motor, cognitive and visual disabilities, for whose attention a psychosocial study is carried out, the only one of its kind in the largest of the Antilles, which includes living conditions, medical check-up and incorporation to employment.
With information from Cuban News Agency / Translated by Radio Angulo
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