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The Cuban Irina Diéguez Toledo posted a heartbreaking testimony on Facebook regarding the conditions she experienced while accompanying her uncle at the National Institute of Oncology and Radiobiology (INOR) in Havana, where hunger, power outages, lack of water, and extreme heat overshadowed any other reality.
Dieguez Toledo's uncle was admitted to the country's main oncology center for a preoperative check-up and surgery on two lesions on his scalp described as "very painful and dangerous."
The surgery could not be performed due to the patient's respiratory issues, although the young chief physician of the Peripheral Tumors Service personally managed the prescribed antibiotics.
The author highlighted the dedication of the medical staff despite the circumstances: “The care is excellent, even though we hear them talk about not having slept due to the blackouts and the hardships that we Cubans face. The difference is that they work with people, and still, they strive.”
The most chilling moment of the story occurred while Diéguez Toledo was walking down the hallway talking on the phone.
He mentioned that he had only eaten a piece of bread with butter all day.
A young man from Bejucal who had been in the hospital for weeks taking care of his father overheard the conversation and offered a plate with breaded chicken, chicharritas, and two rolls.
"I didn't want to. He insisted. And I cried out of shame, exhaustion, helplessness, and sadness," she wrote.
The episode led her to a reflection that summarizes the food crisis facing the island: “I have never felt so much hunger, and I realized that hunger hurts. I have friends, just one call and they will offer me what they have. But most of us are going through a tough time.”
The lack of food was compounded by the hospital's material conditions: two days without water due to a failure in the pumping system with no immediate solution, extreme heat in the rooms, windows that wouldn’t close, swarms of mosquitoes, and electrical outlets with issues.
"I feel angry because it was impossible to sleep there despite the fan," she noted.
The testimony is not an isolated case.
More than 96,000 patients were waiting for surgeries in Cuba in May 2026, including 11,000 children, while 461 out of 651 essential medications were recorded as out of stock, according to data from the documented health crisis in the country.
The Minister of Health, José Ángel Portal Miranda, acknowledged before the National Assembly in July 2025 the existence of an "unprecedented structural crisis."
The food crisis exacerbates the situation: 33.9% of Cuban households had at least one member who went to bed hungry in the last 30 days, according to data from May 2025, compared to 24.6% recorded in 2024.
The blackouts in Cuban hospitals reached outages of between twenty and 48 consecutive hours, directly affecting the operability of health centers.
Diéguez Toledo concluded his publication with a direct question to the regime: "What need do we have to continue suffering, to continue enduring such indifference from a Government that announced 'saving' measures and lets people die?"
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