Cuban leader Miguel Díaz-Canel visited the Institute of Neurology and Neurosurgery in Havana this Thursday to observe the progress in digital transformation and artificial intelligence at the center.
The Presidency of Cuba indicated that these visits are part of the president's work agenda, with a particular focus on the country's digital transformation strategy and Artificial Intelligence programs.
"It is a strategy that prioritizes the sectors of health, teaching, and education. That is why, since the end of last year, we have been visiting health centers every month," said Díaz-Canel.
The visit contrasts sharply with the structural crisis that the Cuban healthcare system is experiencing.
The shortage of medicines in hospitals and pharmacies in Cuba has become one of the most critical problems within the healthcare system, directly impacting patient care.
Many medical centers are lacking essential supplies such as painkillers, antibiotics, suturing materials, and even intravenous solutions, forcing families to seek these items on their own or turn to the informal market, where prices are unaffordable for most.
This situation, exacerbated by the economic crisis and ongoing power outages, has significantly deteriorated the quality of medical services and caused deep discontent among the population, which is facing long waits and incomplete treatments in increasingly precarious conditions.
In the midst of this scenario, the leader congratulated the hospital staff for their "will, professionalism, perseverance, and desire for improvement," and described the advancements as an expression of what he calls "creative resistance."
"It is particularly interesting the progress in the development of the digital transformation process and the use of AI in this important institution. 'If we can today, we will always be able to,' said Díaz-Canel."
This is not the first time he has undertaken such tours aimed at "polishing the image of Cuban hospitals" for the international press, when the reality is that, since the coronavirus crisis, the health system is in total collapse.
Recently, he visited the National Center for Minimally Invasive Surgery in a similar exercise of institutional propaganda.
The visit takes place while power outages of up to twenty hours a day keep equipment inactive in hospitals across the country, worsening a health situation that was already critical prior to the energy crisis.
Patients sleeping on the floors of Havana hospitals due to the lack of beds, medications, and minimum care conditions, a reality that is vastly different from the image of technological modernity that the government tries to project with these visits.
In light of the collapse, international organizations have had to intervene. UNICEF donated oxygen concentrators to hospitals on the island, while the United Nations activated a $94.1 million humanitarian plan for Cuba aimed at alleviating the health and food emergency affecting the population.
"In each of these visits, one can see how they present new things, how they consolidate what they have, and how results are becoming more widespread," declared Díaz-Canel, in a speech that his critics label as disconnected from the reality most Cubans experience within the health system.
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