Havana, Cuba.- Cuba today shows with satisfaction prestigious neuroscience developments at the highest international level, as a permanent challenge to the economic, commercial and financial blockade imposed by the United States.

According to the Director of the Institute of Neurology and Neurosurgery, Dr. Enrique Mitchel Esteban, ‘in spite of the overwhelming aggression of a powerful country against a small one, we have reached positions in these specialties similar to that of any institution in the first world, due to the high qualifications of our professionals and specialists.’

Founded in 1966, this entity provides prestige today with ample merits to the national health system, and stands out for its results offering excellent medical care and a high degree of patient satisfaction, the doctor specified.

Despite the hostile US blockade, since its foundation the Institute has managed to unite two neuroscience disciplines spread throughout the country, and train the human resources needed to offer services in each province and in all clinical-surgical and pediatric hospitals.

‘Today we have the most modern technologies and equipment used in neurology and neurosurgery at the disposal of national and foreign patients, in conditions similar to those of any first world nation, evading the obstacles of the blockade,’ he stressed.

However, he denounced that the blockade prevents the completion of certain therapies or the providing patients with the latest generation drugs, as occurs in operations on malignant brain tumors, whose subsequent chemotherapeutic treatment is with a drug licensed by the United States.

‘In response to these situations, we resort to other more expensive options or those of national production, but we ensure the successful care and recovery of the patient. In other procedures such as radiosurgery, we cannot obtain the equipment or the technology,’ he emphasized.