Norlan Rojas, a 23-year-old Cuban, has been unable to undergo surgery for a complicated testicular hernia with varicocele for months because the hospital he attends lacks the essential surgical supplies for the procedure.
His case was shared by the community group "El Trinitario de a Pie" on Facebook, where a neighbor raised awareness about his situation and requested solidarity help.
The young man's mother explained in the video that they have taken him to the hospital twice, and both times the surgery was postponed. "We haven't been able to operate because the hospital is lacking supplies," she recounted. During the first visit, there was no polypropylene mesh; during the second, several essential materials for the procedure were missing.
Norlan's condition has worsened alarmingly. "The hernia is already compressing the area where he urinates. He has to squeeze to urinate because he can't do it otherwise," his mother described with visible distress.
The healthcare institution itself provided the family with a handwritten list of materials they must obtain on their own: adhesive tape, a urinary catheter size 16-18 with a collection bag, a Levine tube, cannulas size 18-20, a transfusion set, chromic and nylon sutures in different calibers, a polypropylene mesh measuring 15×15 centimeters, two blood donations, and an ampoule of ephedrine.
That a health center lacks even adhesive tape summarizes, in just one image, the state of the Cuban healthcare system.
Norlan is also the main economic support for his family, who live in precarious conditions. The neighbor who alerted the community group described the situation as an emergency that cannot wait any longer.
The case is no exception.
Last Tuesday, another Cuban was asking for urgent help to operate on his mother who is suffering from colon cancer because the Military Hospital did not provide a surgical date.
In July 2024, a 76-year-old man faced a similar situation: he needed surgery for a hernia, and the hospital lacked the necessary supplies.
The shortage of supplies has also led to a black market fueled by theft within the health centers themselves.
In February 2025, the police dismantled an illegal warehouse in Manzanillo filled with syringes, endotracheal tubes, gloves, probes, and fluids stolen from hospitals.
And in November 2025, a laboratory employee in Bayamo was arrested for stealing cotton, surgical gloves, and scalpels to sell them in the informal market.
The collapse is structural, and the regime itself has partially acknowledged it. The Minister of Public Health, José Ángel Portal Miranda, admitted to The Associated Press that the healthcare system was "on the brink of collapse."
In April, the surgical waiting list surpassed 96,387 patients, including more than 11,000 children. In May, Chancellor Bruno Rodríguez raised that figure to 100,000 people waiting, among them 12,000 minors.
While the regime blames the crisis on the U.S. embargo, families like that of Norlan Rojas receive handwritten lists of materials that they must seek out themselves so that their children can undergo surgery.
Sixty-seven years of dictatorship have resulted in a healthcare system that lacks even adhesive tape.
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