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The Provincial Transport Directorate of Villa Clara announced this Wednesday that ten out of the 20 electric vehicles acquired to transport hemodialysis patients have already arrived in the province and are "almost in use", as the organization stated on its social media.
The official statement indicates that the other ten vehicles are expected "in the coming days" to complete the batch of 20 units assigned to the region, funded by the Ministry of Transportation through the Transportation Development Fund.
The cars are marked with stickers from "Taxi Agency / Valle de Yari" and are operated by staff in institutional yellow uniforms.
These 20 units are part of a national batch of 200 electric cars model Dongfeng Box 01 that the regime put into circulation on May 19, 2026, to serve over 3,000 patients with chronic kidney failure who depend on regular sessions at 57 hemodialysis units distributed throughout the country.
The vehicles have a 42.3 kWh battery, a range of up to 430 km per charge, and capacity for five people. Their charging stations will operate independently from the national electrical system, supported by photovoltaic energy.
In addition to transport for dialysis sessions, the cars will cover medical discharges, oncology appointments, and other healthcare activities.
The 200 vehicles represent the first half of a batch of 400 promised by Miguel Díaz-Canel on March 13, 2026, amidst a serious healthcare transportation crisis that lasted throughout the first half of the year.
In Villa Clara, the shortage of fuel has brought the prioritized taxis for these patients to a standstill, forcing many to pay up to 500 pesos per trip or remain hospitalized indefinitely.
In March 2026, the province had already turned to electric tricycles as an emergency solution to ensure transportation to the Provincial Hospital "Arnaldo Milián Castro" in Santa Clara, which serves 144 dialysis patients organized into five weekly shifts.
The crisis is not limited to Villa Clara: on June 14, a mother in Granma reported that she was denied fuel to transport her son to dialysis, and the Ministry of Public Health itself acknowledged that the ambulance system covered less than 40% of the national demand.
In Las Tunas, on April 28, it was reported that the authorities threatened to suspend prioritized taxis for these patients due to a lack of fuel, while Granma was operating with only 17 of the 54 ambulances it needed, according to data from Minsap itself.
Despite official announcements, the structural crisis persists: the Ministry of Public Health acknowledged in June 2026 that the ambulance system covers less than 40% of national demand, highlighting that the 200 electric vehicles, while necessary, are insufficient in the face of the collapse of healthcare transportation in Cuba.
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