A pool of blood running at the entrance of a house in Havana. That is the scene that shocked a neighbor in Havana this weekend, prompting her to record it and report it on social media.
The video, initially shared by the user Yusimí Manso and republished by several accounts, shows organic remains, fresh blood, and uncovered trash bins just a few meters away from a maternity hospital, in an image that once again highlights the health deterioration experienced in Cuba.
"Look at this pool of blood... the blood keeps flowing, and it goes on, and on," the woman narrates as she focuses on the biological residue sliding across the floor until it reaches the door of her home.
"The filth that ends up here is horrifying... they leave all the trash just lying around," she adds with indignation and disgust, as she shows the containers overflowing with medical waste and without lids.
The neighbor claims that the waste was thrown there by workers from the nearby maternal hospital, and that it is common for the containers to be left open, overflowing, and without oversight.
“Neither the director nor any of the workers care,” he laments while insisting that the entire block suffers the consequences of the stench and unsanitary conditions.
A complaint that is echoed in hospitals across the country
Although the scene is alarming, it is not an isolated incident. Reports of accumulated garbage, blood, medical waste, and unsanitary conditions in Cuban healthcare facilities have become increasingly common.
In August 2025, residents of Güines reported that at the Manuel Piti Fajardo Maternal and Child Hospital, garbage remained uncollected for almost a month. Overflowing containers, rotting waste, flies, and foul odors surrounded a center where pregnant women and newborns are admitted.
A neighbor from the municipality then summed up the general sentiment: "There’s nothing... not even a sheet. The bathrooms are disgusting. What public health can a system that doesn’t even collect the trash from its hospitals guarantee?"
The same happened at the Hermanos Ameijeiras hospital, where an improvised dump of household trash, debris, and decomposing waste extended just a few steps from one of the most important medical institutions in the country.
A content creator described it, with bitter irony, as a "pathogen incubator," a danger to patients and passersby.
These complaints arise in a context where the Minister of Public Health, José Ángel Portal Miranda, has acknowledged an unprecedented structural crisis: only about 30% coverage of the basic medication list and a widespread deterioration of hospital infrastructure.
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