Cuban mother denounces lack of medication for her sick daughter: “They are playing with her health.”

A Cuban mother publicly denounced the lack of essential medications to alleviate her daughter's suffering, a minor with an irreversible illness, in what constitutes another testimony of the collapse of the healthcare system in Cuba and the institutional neglect faced by the most vulnerable patients.

The complaint was filed on Facebook by Neldis Maceo Cabrera, a resident of Granma province, who for several months has been using social media to expose the misconduct of the health authorities and the local government regarding the critical situation of his daughter, Érika Sabrina.

"Today I call all the leaders of the government and the Granma Party liars. They are playing with my daughter's health," the mother wrote in a message full of indignation and desperation. She recounts that the girl suffers from severe and unbearable headaches that can no longer be controlled with basic painkillers like paracetamol or dipyrone.

Maceo Cabrera reports that the specific medication his daughter needs is not available in the health system, and that obtaining it on the informal market costs around 36,000 Cuban pesos per year, an unattainable figure for most families in the country. "I worked for this government, and I don't even deserve a checkbook," he laments.

In addition to the shortage of medications, the mother also questions other unmet promises, such as the delivery of milk announced by the authorities in December. “They brushed off what was discussed that day,” she wrote, maintaining that she has received no concrete response or real solutions.

The case of Érika Sabrina had already generated a wave of solidarity both inside and outside of Cuba. In November 2025, the young girl finally managed to return home after spending nearly four years living in hospitals, after her family publicly reported that the regime did not guarantee an ambulance to transport her from the medical center to her home.

The girl, as her family has explained, only wants to spend the time she has left at home, with her sisters, but even that basic right has been marred by negligence, bureaucracy, and a lack of resources.

“If you can't handle this, just hand it over already,” wrote the mother, who claims not to fear repercussions for her words. “I’m waiting for you here, but I want real answers.”

The testimony of Neldis Maceo Cabrera once again highlights the gap between the official rhetoric of "medical power" and the daily reality faced by thousands of Cuban families, who are forced to confront illness, pain, and scarcity almost entirely on their own.