SANTIAGO DE CUBA.— The growing international recognition and prestige of the Cuban medicine, Heberprot-P, for the treatment of diabetic foot ulcers, thereby reducing the risk of amputation, was noted by Dr. Jorge Berlanga Acosta during a conference in the city.
After giving his inaugural lecture as part of the 16th National Workshop on the Comprehensive Care Program for Patients with Diabetic Foot Ulcers (PAIPUPD) Using Heberprot-P, the founder of this product, which is unique in the world, the doctor noted that his recent participation in an event relating to the topic in the United States had confirmed this interest.
Dr. Jorge Berlanga Acosta was invited to present the Cuban experience at the Diabetic Foot Global Conference in Hollywood, Los Angeles.
Here he noted that renowned scientists, experts and professors had expressed strong interest in the impact of the Heberprot-P treatment program in Cuba, which now extends to both primary and secondary care.
“I think there is a critical mass of professionals, clinicians and surgeons,” he said, “who are eager to try out this Cuban medicine, since evidently they recognize it as a possible alternative to reduce the rate of amputations that this complication of diabetes mellitus causes in the United States.”
Dedicated to the exchange of experiences, updates on the program’s performance and its main indicators in Cuba and the rest of the world, the Workshop was sponsored by the Ministry of Public Health and the Center for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology (CIGB) and brings together doctors and specialists from across the country.
According to Osvaldo Reyes Acosta, PAIPUPD executive coordinator (CIGB), as a result of the screening procedure of patients with diabetic foot in Cuba, more than 18,000 new cases are identified annually, and among those presenting risks of complex ulcers, 10,000 are treated with Heberprot-P.
During the 7 years of the program, he added, over 38,000 patients have been treated with the product. Heberprot-P has already been registered for use in 26 countries and administered to over 160,000 people. According to the World Health Organization, diabetes mellitus currently affects some 200 million people across the world, a figure which could reach 366 million by 2030.
