The Juan Manuel Márquez Pediatric Teaching Hospital in Havana announced this Tuesday that authorities will investigate the unauthorized intrusion of a group of people into its Pediatric Intensive Care Unit, which occurred on the night of Monday.
The Management Council of the center issued an official informational note describing the event as "a regrettable incident": "A group of individuals accessed the healthcare area without the appropriate authorization, disrupting the normal operation of the service and creating a tense situation that affected the healthcare staff and jeopardized the proper delivery of medical care."
Authorities intervened to restore order and ensure the continued care of hospitalized patients, according to the statement.
The hospital did not identify the individuals who entered the restricted area, did not specify how many there were, nor explained the reason for their presence in the unit. It also did not detail whether there were any arrests or if any patients were directly affected.
The Intensive Care Unit of Juan Manuel Márquez cares for children with serious illnesses: "multiple trauma cases, neurosurgical cases, and other conditions that require intensive care."
It is one of the three units of this type operating in Havana, within a national system that has 37 Pediatric Intensive Care Units throughout the country.
The Management Council recognized the "professional, calm, and responsible conduct" of the health team during the incident and called on the public to "maintain an atmosphere of respect, dialogue, and collaboration within health institutions."
The incident occurs at a time of growing tension in Cuban pediatric hospitals, exacerbated by the deep crisis in the healthcare system.
On Monday, July 21, a mother reported a plague of cockroaches at the Juan Manuel Márquez hospital while her daughter was admitted, a problem that has been recurring since at least 2023.
Just days before, on July 20, the Spanish NGO Open Arms delivered solar panels, batteries, an ultrasound machine, and medical supplies to the hospital to provide energy autonomy for the ICU, in response to the frequent power outages affecting the facility.
In other provinces, the situation is not any better: the generator at the Pediatric Hospital of Camagüey caught fire on July 10, leaving the facility with reduced electrical supply. In June, there were reports of unauthorized vendors circulating within the pediatric hospital rooms.
Juan Manuel Márquez's statement concludes with a call to trust in the institutions: "The protection of patients, their families, and workers is a priority. Therefore, we trust that the competent authorities will conduct the necessary investigations to clarify what happened and act in accordance with current legislation."
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