Dr Aleida Guevara, a paediatrician who has worked around the world and daughter of the Cuban revolutionary Ernesto Che Guevara, spoke to the students of the Asian College of Journalism on January 18. In response to questions from students, she spoke – through a translator – about Cuba’s health policy, the implications of the US embargo on Cuba, and the indiscriminate use of her father’s face on commercial products.

She said that Cuba’s health policy was underpinned by two factors. First, that the right to health must be free and two, that health services must be universal. She talked about the three-tier system in place in Cuba which also included mental health.

On the embargo, she said that eight out the 10 new medicines produced in the world were made by US companies. “Now if I have a sick child and the only medicines available are in the US, then I have to find intermediaries without the FBI finding out about them,” she said. If the FBI did find out about them, it could mean result in million of dollars in fines for the company or the cessation of the sale of that product in the US, she said. “So we have to find intermediaries and each intermediary has its own price. The cost of the medicine becomes exorbitant. That’s why we are fighting against this blockage. It is criminal.”

However, in the meanwhile, Cuban doctors are trying different systems of medicines for different types of diseases. For instance, since access to nasal drops is not easy, doctors have figured out how to use a locally available flower to create a concoction, one drop of which is enough to clear up the nose.

She also spoke about medical research in Cuba and about vaccines being developed for prostate cancer, Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases.