"Green" Medicine Flourishing in Eastern Cuba
Patricia Grogg
GUANTANAMO, Cuba, Oct 3 (IPS) - For a wide range of health problems from
high blood pressure to asthma to the common cold, people are just as likely
to turn to herbal remedies as to conventional drugs in this easternmost
province of Cuba.
Garlic tincture, copal wood resin syrup and a compound known as Imefasma
are the three most highly sought after "phytopharmaceuticals" or
plant-based medicines produced by the state-run pharmaceutical industry in
Guantánamo, located some 1,000 km southeast of Havana.
Imefasma is a bronchodilator made from a combination of banana stalks, aloe
vera and a flower from the hibiscus family (Hibiscus elatus malvaceae)
which many asthmatics have begun to use in place of prescription drugs.
"My grandson has been taking it for three years and he hasn't had a single
asthma attack in all this time. Not even one," declared a woman waiting to
be served at a dispensary in the city centre.
Garlic tincture is also a highly popular natural remedy, used to treat high
blood pressure and high blood cholesterol levels, while it also has
anti-inflammatory properties, noted Cristina Tabera, a pharmaceutical
technician.
Although natural and traditional medicine has been incorporated into the
mainstream public health care system throughout Cuba as a whole, the use of
herbal remedies is particularly widespread in Guantánamo.
"My parents treated me with herbal remedies, and it wasn't because we
couldn't afford other medicines. It's a custom in our province," María
Miras San Jorge, director of the Guantánamo Pharmaceutical and Optical
Enterprise, told IPS.
The state company she directs employs a total of 757 workers, of whom 631
are women.
At the same time, however, some of the doctors interviewed by IPS warned of
the potential risks posed by this practice, given the fact that some of the
plants used can have toxic effects in overly large doses.
"The danger is greater in the case of children. A lot of caution is needed
when prescribing remedies for children under five," commented a
pediatrician from the Guantánamo Hospital who asked to remain anonymous.
The province's herbal medicine industry encompasses three laboratories and
26 dispensaries spread throughout ten municipalities, seven of them in
mountainous regions.
The raw materials for the laboratories are provided by a plantation devoted
to the cultivation of medicinal plants. "In all, there are 141 workers
employed in the production of these remedies, and this year's projected
output is 2.1 million units. And none of that will be surplus production,
it will all be consumed right here in the province," said Miras San Jorge.
The use of medicinal plants is a longstanding tradition in Cuba, passed
down from generation to generation.
In the 1940s, Cuban botanist, agronomist and pharmacologist Juan Tomás Roig
(1877-1971) identified 599 species used by the population for different
medicinal purposes.
"I consider myself a disciple of Tomás Roig," said Américo Delgado, who is
famous throughout Guantánamo for his encyclopaedic knowledge of the
curative powers of hundreds of plants.
"Mother Earth has everything a human being needs, you just need to know
where to look for it," he added.
Delgado's living room is set up like a clinic, where twice a week he
attends to hundreds of "patients", dispensing the medicinal plants he goes
out to gather himself from the surrounding forests.
"The plants he recommends are very good. He cured my mother of an ulcer she
had on her leg," reported María Mercedes, who lives in the same
neighbourhood.
Delgado told IPS that he keeps scrupulous records of the "patients" he
sees, their medical problems, and the treatment he has prescribed to them.
His work is also monitored by a Ministry of Public Health laboratory, he
stressed.
"Mr. Delgado has become a community leader in the use of medicinal plants
for different health problems," said Marlenis Cala Cala, the permanent
representative of the federal Ministry of Science, Technology and the
Environment on the Provincial Commission on Natural and Traditional
Medicine.
Cala Cala admitted, however, that Delgado lacks the technology needed to
ensure the maximum effectiveness of the services he provides. "We are
cooperating with a development, innovation and technology transfer project
aimed at fulfilling his dream of having a small laboratory," she reported.
A CD-ROM on medicinal plants developed in Guantánamo offers information on
the 74 species most commonly used in the mountainous regions of Cuba, and
has been distributed to health care and higher education centres with
access to digital technology.
Cala Cala told IPS that there are various projects underway to protect and
revive endangered plant species that are in high demand for the health care
system, such as Java tea (Orthosiphon aristatus B), rue (Ruta graveolens
L.) and rosemary (Rosmarinus officinalis L.).
The Cuban government programme for the development of natural medicine,
established in 1996, addresses a wide range of activities, including the
training of medical personnel, scientific research and development, the
production and distribution of herbal medicines, and the integration of
natural medicine techniques into the mainstream health care system.
The country's health care authorities have stressed that natural medicine
should not be viewed as an alternative or complement to conventional
Western medicine, but rather as an integral part of the treatment arsenal
of all Cuban health professionals.