The lack of cleaning staff is another problem that is severely affecting the health center.
14ymedio, Julio César Contreras, Matanzas, 28 April 2025 — The medical care received at the Matanzas Children’s Hospital is directly proportional to the amount of resources the family brings. A heavy bag of supplies, gifts, and snacks, the patient is more likely to complete treatment, successfully overcome an emergency, and fully recover. A meager or empty bag predicts a worse outcome, as those who visit the health center every day know.
The scene in the ground-floor lounge of the Eliseo Noel Caamaño Provincial Pediatric Teaching Hospital on Friday morning was similar to any other day. Parents held their young children while waiting to be seen. There were barely enough seats, so many remained standing, waiting for a healthcare professional to appear from a hallway or at the door of an office.
Hanging from the shoulders of many of the waiting adults was a bag or a heavy backpack. Inside, there were all kinds of medical supplies, as well as food. Gauze, syringes, suture thread, sterile cotton, and alcohol for cleaning a wound shared space with ham and cheese sandwiches or canned soft drinks. “It’s no longer enough to bring food to the doctors; now you also have to carry the medications,” warned Yudith, a mother who was lucky enough to get a chair to sit next to her baby.
With a daughter who suffers from a chronic, hereditary illness, the woman has already stocked up on a first-aid kit with the medications and supplies needed for her little one’s treatment. “I’ve had to quickly become an expert and get the whole family involved in getting what my daughter needs,” she explains to 14ymedio. “I’m coming with everything so I don’t delay the treatment and so they don’t offer me excuses and 1 have to come back another day.”
As in the film The Oil of Life, where a child develops a disease so rare that his father must research the condition and find the relief himself, Cuban families have also had to train in all kinds of health issues in the face of the crisis hitting Public Health on the Island. Some have learned to give injections, immobilize an arm after a fracture due to the lack of a cast in hospitals, and some have become true experts in the medications their little one needs.
“The specialists themselves say that all they can do is give a diagnosis,” Yudith explains. After learning the name of her daughter’s condition, the mother launched a frantic search for information and resources. Her family, the black market, and personal connections in the healthcare sector paid off. Within a few months, she had the treatment kit and even a second opinion on her daughter’s case, sent to her by a cousin who works as a doctor in Miami.
But there are things that cannot be replaced with resources or personal relationships. Dust in the waiting room of the pediatric hospital covers the walls, windows, and floor; the bathrooms stink and barely flush. The lack of cleaning staff is one of the problems that most affects the Cuban healthcare system, given that low wages and harsh working conditions discourage potential employees. To alleviate the situation, the government sends common-law prisoners to maintain hospital hygiene, but the supplies they have hinder their performance.
Near Yudith this Friday, a young couple was also waiting to enter a doctor’s office. They weren’t carrying any bags or backpacks, which was a bad sign. “My child has had a high fever for several hours. The pediatrician recommended giving him acetaminophen to lower his temperature, but the bad news is that the medication is out of stock,” the mother said. After hours of waiting and seeing that the pediatrician wouldn’t come up with the drug, the father decided to go to a nearby neighborhood to buy it on the black market.
For others, immersing themselves in the informal buying and selling industry isn’t enough to get what they need. “My daughter needs thyroid surgery, but, believe it or not, there aren’t even disposable gloves in this hospital’s operating room,” Tamara explained. “When the doctor told me that, apart from the anesthesia, I had to take care of everything else, I couldn’t believe it.” Due to a lack of resources, the surgery has been postponed several times, and the family fears that the delay will cause irreversible damage to the child.
More and more Cuban parents are turning to social media, desperate for relief for their children’s health problems. Fundraisers, donations of medicines, and applications for humanitarian visas to seek care in another country are becoming more frequent. From blindly trusting the Public Health system, many have gone on to fear for their children’s lives due to the debacle of materials and specialized personnel suffered by hospitals.
“It’s not just the medications or supplies; a doctor tells you your child has a particular disease, and it’s very difficult to get a second opinion because that’s the doctor you’re assigned to because of the bureaucracy. Going to another hospital, moving to another province for a consultation, that’s something only patients with a lot of money or leverage can do,” Tamara complains. Her dream is to be able to get her daughter out of the country and “have surgery abroad, in a clean, well-resourced place.”
“I joined several Telegram groups where they sell medicine, and I quickly found someone who had some of what I needed.”
For the time being, the family sees no possibility of leaving the island, so the mother has been searching for what she needs for the operation. “I joined several Telegram groups where they sell medicine, and I quickly found someone who has some of what I need.” After purchasing sterile water for the injections, syringes, scalpels, and adhesive tape, she now needs to acquire a blood donation, which is essential for authorization of the procedure and which currently costs up to 5,000 pesos on the informal market in Matanzas.
Once she has everything, Tamara will return to the pediatric ward, but this time with a full bag, a sign that she has secured not only the resources for the surgery but also the corresponding gifts and snacks for the medical staff. But she may still encounter another obstacle: the operating room may be closed due to a technical problem or the presence of a dangerous bacteria that they haven’t been able to eradicate. To overcome this difficulty, she’ll have to arm herself with another, heavier bag, full of patience.
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