Patient in Cuba seeks international help: "We are dying, the State has no supplies."

A patient undergoing hemodialysis in Remedios, Villa Clara, called for "medical intervention from other countries" in Cuba for their right to continue living.

“I'm Nelson Ledesma Martínez and I call on all hemodialysis patients in the province of Villa Clara to unite in requesting medical intervention from other countries,” he wrote in a Facebook post.

"We deserve to live; we no longer have supplies to connect three times a week. The state doesn’t have those supplies; however, you can find them on the street at high prices that we cannot afford," he stated.

Ledesma Martínez urged all patients in similar situations to organize "to demand our rights to continue living."

In August last year, a Cuban doctor, mother of a patient undergoing hemodialysis at the Celia Sánchez Manduley Hospital in Manzanillo, Granma, harshly denounced the institutional neglect of these patients, who are victims of frequent interruptions in their medical treatment and the lack of willingness from authorities to resolve the issue, putting their lives at risk.

With evident indignation, the Cuban mother decided to set aside her reluctance to post on social media to highlight a situation that has already “gone beyond acceptable” and affects her personally.

He revealed that on that day, the procedure for the hospital patients was not carried out due to a lack of bicarbonate, despite the fact that “everyone knows what it means for them to miss treatment when the weekend comes, and they won't have any more treatment until Tuesday.”

"I wonder how long we are going to keep putting up with the fact that every time they come for treatment, there is no water, no concentrate, no bicarbonate, no dialyzers, or they started late because there are no cleaning assistants," she questioned.

"What is lacking is human sensitivity," he asserted. "It is a lack of respect towards those patients and their families."

These reports highlight the severe deterioration of the healthcare system in Cuba, characterized by a lack of medications and supplies, delays in surgeries and other treatments, poor infrastructure conditions, and institutional neglect.

The crisis was acknowledged this July by the Minister of Public Health, José Ángel Portal Miranda, before the National Assembly of People's Power.

Portal acknowledged that the healthcare system is experiencing an "unprecedented structural crisis," with only 30% of the basic list of medications covered and hospitals facing severe organizational and material shortages.

The minister presented the alarming state of public health in Cuba, citing among other issues, the shortage of medical supplies, the exodus of professionals, the increase in maternal and infant mortality and corruption within hospital institutions. However, following the official script of the regime, he blamed the situation on the United States embargo, without mentioning the internal failures of the system.