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A Cuban doctor posted on Facebook a group photo from when she and five colleagues were rotating through intermediate therapy, just before completing their specialties, along with a message that encapsulates the collapse of the health system on the island: "Not a single one of the 6 brave individuals remains."
Yaneisy Agras La O, the author of the publication, states that none of the six specialists depicted in the image are currently associated with the healthcare sector.
"So many pleasant memories flooded my mind, so much love for Medicine, so many dreams, so many hopes, so many expectations that today have turned to salt and water," wrote the physician.
In response to those who might attribute the abandonment to disinterest or greed, Yaneisy was emphatic: the reason is not a lack of love for medicine, nor financial interests, nor ingratitude.
"Tiredness, pain, frustration, helplessness of wanting to do and being unable to, of wanting to speak and not being able to, of wanting to live off our knowledge and efforts and not being able to," he listed in his post.
The testimony comes amid an unprecedented exodus of medical personnel.
According to official data from the National Office of Statistics and Information (ONEI), Cuba went from having 106,131 doctors in 2021 to just 75,364 in 2024, a loss of nearly 30,800 physicians in three years.
The most significant decline occurred between 2022 and 2023, when the country lost 13,303 doctors in a single year, with the specialty of Comprehensive General Medicine being the hardest hit.
The exodus of professionals is compounded by the deterioration of working conditions.
A newly graduated doctor earns 4,610 pesos per month, and with advanced specialization, they can reach 7,500 pesos—amounts that are insufficient to cover basic needs in a country with chronic shortages and skyrocketing prices.
In May 2026, a Cuban doctor with a specialty and teaching category left her profession because her salary was insufficient to feed her child.
This economic reality is further compounded by migration restrictions. Decree 306 of 2012, expanded in January 2023 to include medical specialists, dentists, and health technicians, classifies these professionals as "vital" workers and requires employer approval for them to leave the country.
Last Monday, that situation sparked a massive wave of outrage among thousands of regulated doctors following the open letter that Dr. Alberto Tejeda, a specialist from Santiago de Cuba, sent to the Minister of Public Health.
The minister himself, José Ángel Portal Miranda, acknowledged in July 2025 a "unprecedented structural crisis" in the sector, while the Government confirmed that more than 24,000 health workers were providing services abroad.
Yaneisy described her generation as "young dreamers we once were and who today are reinventing themselves to survive," a phrase that encapsulates the journey of thousands of professionals trained with resources from the Cuban state, which the system itself has been unable to retain.
He closed his post with a hope: "Colleagues, I care for you, and I have faith in God that one day we will smile like that again in front of our patients, with the satisfaction of a duty well fulfilled."
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