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The main generator of the Camagüey Pediatric Hospital caught fire on Friday, July 10, leaving the facility in a critical situation to maintain the power supply for its patients, as reported by hospital workers through journalist José L. Tan Estrada.
After the fire, the staff had to activate a smaller generator that only has enough capacity to supply the Intensive Care Units, Intermediate Care, and the Emergency Room.
The rest of the hospital—a facility with a capacity of 356 beds that cares for sick children from across the province—is being powered by a generator located near the University of Camagüey, a temporary and fragile solution.
What further complicates the situation is the response received by the workers when they inquired about when the damaged equipment would be repaired: "there are no spare parts to repair the hospital's generator."
The incident occurs at the worst possible time during the recent Cuban electricity crisis.
On July 6, Cuba experienced its seventh total disconnection of the National Electric System in just 18 months, and the power deficit reached a historical high of 2,341 MW on July 9, with an availability of only 1,000 MW against a demand of 3,100 MW.
After the collapse of the national system, the Camagüey Electric Company activated an isolated microsystem of 28 MW that prioritized supply to hospitals in the province, including the pediatric hospital via Circuit Y-123.
However, the company itself warned in its statement that "microsystems are isolated systems that are prone to failures," a warning that the fire on Friday turned into reality.
The Camagüey pediatric hospital is not the only hospital that has experienced an electrical emergency in recent days.
Just two days earlier, on July 8, a fire in the generator of the Amalia Simoni Hospital forced the evacuation of neonates to the Pediatric Hospital, which is now facing its own crisis. On July 9, a severe storm caused power outages in the circuits of the Provincial Hospital and the Oncology Hospital in Camagüey.
This center has a long history of emergencies related to the electrical infrastructure.
In September 2022, a previous breakdown of its generator forced the urgent transfer of children admitted to intensive care.
In August 2024, the lack of potable water for patients and their families was reported. And in February 2026, the pediatric hospital in the municipality of Florida, in the same province, was left in total darkness during a blackout, with staff working by the light of mobile phones.
This Saturday, Prime Minister Manuel Marrero attributed the new nationwide blackout to the U.S. embargo, ignoring that the collapse of thermal power plants, lack of maintenance, and shortage of spare parts —such as those currently missing at the pediatric hospital in Camagüey— are the underlying causes of a crisis that has been developing for years.
While the regime seeks external scapegoats, a hospital that cares for sick children operates with emergency solutions, lacking guarantees of continuity and without the necessary spare parts to restore its actual electrical capacity.
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