The Future Direction of CSMC, Dr. Yamila De Armas Águila, President, Comercializadora De Servicios Médicos Cubanos

Part VIII explores Cuba’s priority sectors of health, medical tourism, and biopharmaceuticals. This chapter offers insights into the industry through conversations with doctors, executives, and an editor for a medical journal. These interviews illuminate the achievements of the healthcare system, opportunities for research and collaboration, investments, pharmaceuticals, protocols, vaccine development, joint ventures, and the medical tourism industry. This chapter, “The Future Direction of CSMC,” features two interviews with Dr. Yamila de Armas Águila, president of Comercializadora de Servicios Médicos Cubanos (CSMC, S.A.). CSMC markets medical services, medical tourism, academic programs, the Henry Reeve Medical Brigade, quality of life programs, foreign residents’ services, pharmacies, and optical services, and the organization of health conferences. The first interview occurred in 2018, followed by an update in 2022. These interviews examine the transition of the medical tourism industry from the recognition of assets to the necessity of promotion in a globally competitive marketplace. Cuba’s advantages include safety as a destination, natural resources of thermal waters and eco-tourism, health and wellness programs, qualified medical staff, and the humanistic quality of delivery. The interview addresses the prior lack of data availability in relation to global competition and the predicted expansion of the industry after the pandemic. The interview discusses the organization’s projects for investment, its first medical tourism conference, and the move to online access to services for promotion and communication with potential clients.