With the inauguration this Thursday of two plants for the production of surgical masks and swabs, respectively, Cuba is advancing with firm step in favor of confronting COVID-19 that has affected the world for just over a year.
Belonging to the Neuroscience Center of Cuba (CNEURO), attached to the BioCubaFarma Business Group, the new facilities will allow the country to meet the needs of these media, especially those professionals who face arduous combat against the pandemic on a daily basis.
As for the production of swabs, extremely necessary for the diagnosis of SARS-CoV-2, a daily production of around 200 thousand units is expected, while between 14 and 16 masks must be made every 24 hours.
The United Nations Development Program contributed about 200 thousand dollars for the acquisition of machinery for the manufacturing of swabs -for PCR tests and general use by Cuban health system-, while the European Union provided financing of over 250 thousand euros to increase measures to combat COVID-19, part of whose contribution went to the production of surgical masks.
At the inauguration of the factories, whose buildings were the work of the Non-Agricultural Cooperative Construcciones Santa Fe, were present José Moya, PAHO / WHO representative in Cuba, Lorenzo Suarez, Counselor for Economic, Political and Cultural Affairs and Deputy Director of the Swiss agency (SDC), Blanca Rosa Terry, President of the Cuban Society of Hygiene and Epidemiology, Mayda Maury Pérez, First Vice President of BioCubaFarma, as well as other Cuba’s international organizations and institutions.
CNEURO is a Cuban research and development institution in the field of medical technologies and also includes the production and commercialization of these supplies, besides being recognized internationally as a producer of advanced medical devices in the island.