A video shared on Facebook reveals the deplorable conditions in which patients at the Santa Clara Psychiatric Hospital live: lacking hygiene, without proper care, and surrounded by pests.
The recording shows a person lying on a bed on a mat - not even a mattress - partially covered with a sheet, over which numerous insects are crawling around the patient.
The complaint was made by actress Lizandra Martín Martín, who warned that areas 2 (Las Minas) and 9 of the hospital are infested with bedbugs.
According to the details provided, the patients have lesions from the bites, and many sleep directly on the floor.
"This situation was already known to the Provincial Health Directorate, even with videos and evidence. The issue reached the Party, they made their visit… and there it all ended. Nothing changed when they saw the problem," Martín wrote indignantly.
Lizandra stated that she is fed up with the incompetence and lack of sensitivity of the officials who do not fulfill their duties.
"The patients of the Psychiatric Hospital of Santa Clara are human beings. They deserve hygiene, respect, and dignified care. I demand an immediate and public response. I demand action now," she asserted.
The images brutally contradict the official discourse that still boasts of a supposed "medical power." What is seen is the true face of the Cuban healthcare system: neglect, misery, and dehumanization.
This episode adds to a long list of scandals in psychiatric hospitals across the country.
In April, another video showed an employee of the same center hitting a patient during a crisis episode.
In Santiago de Cuba, a similar case at the Gustavo Machín "Jagua" hospital revealed an elderly man infested with insects on his bed.
In Guantánamo, family members reported the lack of essential medical equipment, such as the electroconvulsive therapy device, which has been out of service for months.
These facts highlight a collapsed healthcare system, lacking medications, cleaning supplies, exhausted and demotivated staff, and patients exposed to unsanitary conditions.
Many cleaning assistant positions remain unfilled due to miserable wages and poor working conditions, exacerbating hygiene issues in hospitals and nursing homes.
Despite the complaints, the government does not offer solutions. In fact, many Cubans have criticized that after images of this nature are published, the authorities respond by sanctioning those who dare to report instead of addressing the situation.
The result is an unworthy scenario: forgotten patients, living among insects, without care or hope.
What was once a source of national pride is now a symbol of collapse.
In the country that the regime still presents as a model of public health, the Psychiatric Hospital of Santa Clara now symbolizes the collapse of a system and the total abandonment of the most vulnerable. And the State, which should protect them, looks the other way.
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