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The Dr. Juan Bruno Zayas Alfonso General Hospital, one of the main medical centers in Santiago de Cuba, sustained severe structural damage following the passage of Hurricane Melissa, which hit the province with winds exceeding 190 km/h in the early hours of Wednesday.
The images shared by the institution on its page depict a dire scene: detached roofs, uprooted doors, shattered windows, glass scattered on the ground, and fallen trees within the hospital premises.
The hallways were covered with water and debris, and the wind infiltrated several locations, causing destruction.
"These are shocking and sad images. Melissa, as if sent from the underworld, has wreaked havoc in our hospital," the center acknowledged in its statement.
Nevertheless, he assured that calm was maintained throughout the night and that the admitted patients were successfully safeguarded.
However, the message, concluded with a tone of "unity and victory," fails to conceal the magnitude of the disaster or the vulnerability of the Cuban healthcare system today, which is increasingly deteriorated and lacks the capacity to confront phenomena of this scale.
An announced collapse
The event contradicts the government's statements just two days before the hurricane's impact, when the Ministry of Public Health assured that the hospitals in Santiago were "prepared" for Melissa's passage, with reviewed generators, guaranteed supplies, and reinforced medical personnel.
The reality has proven the opposite.
Years of neglect, lack of maintenance, leaks, and chronic shortages of construction materials have turned the hospitals in the region into fragile structures, incapable of withstanding hurricane winds.
In the case of Juan Bruno Zayas, its metal covers and deteriorated windows came down easily.
Before Melissa, the healthcare system was already facing an unprecedented crisis: a shortage of essential medications, a lack of surgical supplies, constant power outages, and the migration of hundreds of specialist doctors abroad.
Recent viral outbreaks, combined with hospital overcrowding and lack of hygienic conditions, have pushed many health centers to the brink of collapse.
In this context, the hurricane not only destroyed physical infrastructure but also exposed the moral and material ruin of a system that the State insists on presenting as a model of efficiency and humanity, while the workers themselves face endless shifts and basic shortages to care for their patients.
Santiago de Cuba, a devastated province
The president of the Provincial Defense Council, Beatriz Johnson acknowledged that the situation in Santiago "is very complex".
"We felt it was our duty to inform the population of our country about the situation in the province, which is very complex. It is raining heavily across the province of Santiago de Cuba. The winds are indeed quite strong," he said.
Melissa made landfall near Aserradero, in the Guamá municipality, at 3:05 AM, then continued towards Palma Soriano, San Luis, and the city of Santiago, where the hospital suffered the greatest impact.
"In the coming hours, when the winds calm down a bit, we will have a better understanding of the situation," he added.
Flooded streets, torn roofs, fallen trees and power poles make up the overall scene in the eastern capital.
In El Cobre, the local river swept away homes and public buildings; in Palma Soriano, the overflowing Charco Mono dam left rural communities underwater.
The University of Oriente also suffered structural damage, and much of the public lighting and urban transportation were left out of service.
With rainfall accumulation exceeding 250 millimeters in some areas, rescue brigades have barely been able to access several peripheral neighborhoods, while thousands of families remain cut off from communication.
A reflection of the national crisis
The disaster at the Dr. Juan Bruno Zayas Alfonso General Hospital has become a symbol of the country's vulnerability to natural disasters.
The lack of public investment, the collapse of essential services, and the scarcity of resources have left the population helpless, without the means to protect themselves or recover.
While the official rhetoric insists on speaking of "unity, discipline, and victory," the images of the hospital with collapsed roofs and cracked walls tell a very different story: that of a healthcare system crumbling, a victim of time, neglect, and the lack of accountability of a government that can no longer hide the deterioration of its foundations.
With the hurricane moving away and official promises being reiterated, Santiago de Cuba wakes up once again devastated, trying to restore its basic services and its hope.
But, as so many times before, the reconstruction seems to rely more on the resilience of the people than on the effectiveness of the institutions.
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