CubaPLUS Magazine

The Centro de Neurociencias de Cuba (CNEURO) is the institution dedicated to the research, production and marketing of advanced technologies for the diagnosis and treatment of brain diseases, with an active role in the scientific technical exercise of the country for over three decades.

In view of the epidemiological situation that the world is facing, the center has since March 2020 been immersed in the manufacture of different medical devices, among them the swabs used to carry out the molecular diagnosis test known as PCR-TR.

In an interview given to CubaPLUS magazine, CNEURO’s Corporate Deputy General Manager, Dr. Sc. Anselmo Breto Vázquez explained that the organization is in charge of producing the Nasopharyngeal Swab, using those made in China and the United States as reference, reaching high quality values by improving the productive scheme.

CNEURO produces the swab, made of cotton or polystyrene tube SR 550 EDISTIR®, which is produced nationally, as well as the fiber covering this area, made of polyester threads, guaranteed by the Grupo Empresarial de la Industria Ligera (GEMPIL). Meanwhile, the Centro Nacional de Biopreparados (BioCen) is the body responsible for producing the transportation to conserve the sample until its analysis in the laboratories.

The leaders of this undertaking are engineers Javier Villate Acosta and Yamil Rosales Hernández, specialists of CNEURO. Their work has been oriented to reach high production rates, which currently stand at 10 thousand swabs a day, to meet the national demand, with a tentative increase in the short term.

This is done as part of the Plataforma Articulada para el Desarrollo Integral Territorial (PADIT), a framework program to support the strengthening of institutional capacities that accompany local authorities in planning and managing regional development and that has joined the efforts being made by the country to prevent and confront COVID-19.

The contribution has been vital thanks to the Ministerio de Economía y Planificación Física and its Instituto Nacional de Investigaciones Económicas and the government of Havana. It also has the support of the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), the contribution of the Italian Agency for Development Cooperation (AICS) and the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC).

Likewise, the process has been accompanied by the Centro para el Control Estatal de Medicamentos, Equipos y Dispositivos Médicos (CECMED), the Instituto de Medicina Tropical Pedro Kourí (IPK), the Centro de Estudios de Avanzada de Cuba, the Empresa de Suministros Médicos (EMSUME), as well as the Empresa Comercializadora y Distribuidora de Medicamentos (EMCOMED).

CNEURO plays a leading role in meeting the demand currently produced by the epidemiological situation the country is facing, which must find solutions with existing resources to ensure that there is no shortage of supplies needed to counter COVID-19 from the front line of battle.

Contact
Dr. Mitchell Joseph Valdés Sosa
Director / Email: mitchell@cneuro.cu
Phone: +53 7263-7112
Dr. Sc. Anselmo Breto Vázquez
Corporate Deputy General Manager / Email: anselmo.breto@cneuro.edu.cu
Phone: +53 7263-7256
Address: Calle 190 # 19818 e/ Ave 25 y Ave 27 Playa, La Habana, Cuba.
Phone: +53 7263-7100 / Email: cneuro@cneuro.cu
www.cneuro.cu