Related videos:
The solidarity group Sembrando Esperanza porque Dios es Amor launched a donation campaign to assist Esnelys Mendoza Blanco, a 17-year-old Cuban teenager from the El Salvador municipality in Guantánamo province, who is currently hospitalized in critical condition.
Esnelys is hospitalized in the Intensive Care Unit, bed number one, at the Children's Hospital of Guantánamo, with a diagnosis of infected prurigo and acute kidney failure with renal dysfunction, reported the activist Mary Canela.
The seriousness of her condition forces her to undergo hemodialysis treatment because her kidneys have stopped functioning.
The call was shared on social media by the group, which received the message from mothers who are in the same hospital: "Some mothers are writing to me from the Children’s Hospital of Guantánamo about the adolescent Esnelys Mendoza Blanco, 17 years old, from the Costa Rica Municipality, El Salvador. She is hospitalized in Intensive Care Room #1 with a serious diagnosis (Infected Prurigo and Acute Kidney Failure) with Renal Dysfunction."
The young woman's family comes from the Costa Rica popular council, one of the most remote areas of the El Salvador municipality, which has barely 5,922 inhabitants and is located a considerable distance from the provincial capital.
That distance further exacerbates the economic situation of the family unit, which has been in the hospital for a long time without the necessary resources to sustain itself: "It is a very low-income family with a long hospital stay, from the municipality, and they need clothes, hygiene products, and food to help them."
The requested donations include clothing, personal hygiene items, and food.
Those who wish to collaborate can contact Dura Alberni at +53 5 6943357 in Cuba, or Reinier Grinon at +1 (786) 263-3257 and Mary Canela in the United States.
The case of Esnelys occurs against the backdrop of a deep crisis in the Cuban health system, which particularly harshly affects kidney patients.
According to official data cited by Granma in April 2025, nearly 3,000 patients in Cuba receive hemodialysis at 56 facilities across the country, but the treatment faces constant interruptions due to shortages of supplies, power outages, and a collapse of the medical transport system.
The Minister of Public Health himself acknowledged in July 2025 an "unprecedented structural crisis," with only 30% of the basic medicine supply available.
The Pedro Agustín Pérez Pediatric Hospital in Guantánamo, where Esnelys is being treated, has been highlighted on numerous occasions for unsanitary conditions, overwhelming patient numbers, and a lack of supplies, a situation that worsened during the dengue and chikungunya outbreaks of 2025.
This is not the first case of a young Cuban facing this situation without institutional support.
Another 17-Year-Old on Hemodialysis launched a campaign in November 2025 on an online fundraising platform with a goal of $15,000 to receive a transplant in Brazil, and had raised just over $1,300 at the time of the report.
Also, hemodialysis patients have faced the risk of death due to the lack of basic supplies, a pattern that repeats in various provinces across the country.
The group Sembrando Esperanza concluded their appeal with a message that encapsulates the urgency of the situation: "God touching hearts to help. SHARE... this is also a way to help."
Filed under: