A Cuban doctor identified on social media as Maria Magdalena la Sacerdotisa posted a video on Facebook on Wednesday, reacting with outrage upon discovering the new salaries that doctors in the country will receive, describing the situation as a "worldwide shame" and noting that the increase amounts to just around 10 dollars a month.
"It is a worldwide shame. The doctors in this country are a worldwide shame," stated the professional in the video, which garnered more than 17,000 views and nearly 200 comments in just a few hours.
The reaction comes after the publication of the Resolution 17/2026 from the Ministry of Labor and Social Security, which establishes the new salary system for the healthcare sector effective from July 1, 2026, with actual payment starting in August.
According to this regulation, a newly graduated doctor will earn 7,045 Cuban pesos (CUP) per month, while a specialist with a second degree will reach 8,880 CUP.
At the current informal exchange rate —673 CUP per dollar according to the informal market as of July 26— these figures translate to between 10.5 and 13.2 dollars per month, respectively.
"10 USD, with the exchange rate of the dollar today, is a disgrace. It's the monthly salary of a Cuban doctor, or it will be, because it isn't yet," the doctor specified in the video.
The gap between these amounts and the actual cost of living in Cuba is vast: independent economists estimate that a person needs at least 96,060 CUP per month to cover their basic needs, of which 70,070 CUP would be allocated solely for food.
A weekly grocery purchase of basic foods can cost between 25,000 and 30,000 CUP, which is three to four times the monthly salary of a specialist doctor.
Before this resolution, a newly graduated doctor earned 5,060 CUP per month, which is less than eight dollars at the informal exchange rate, according to data from the informal currency market in Cuba.
The doctor also points to another recent measure by the regime: the opening of private pharmacies authorized by Decree 160/2026, which allows small and medium-sized enterprises (mipymes) and cooperatives to provide pharmaceutical services starting from August 4, 2026.
"Without considering the issue of pharmacies now being private, who will have access to those medications? I mention this because of the prices they will have," he noted, implicitly questioning whether healthcare professionals themselves will be able to afford the medications that these establishments will sell at market prices.
The professional also sent a direct message to her colleagues: "My colleagues, what shame we give or do you want us to give, because I am not going to play along."
"The value you do not give yourself, no one else will give you," the doctor concluded in the video, seemingly urging her colleagues not to silently accept working conditions that, in her view, degrade the medical profession.
The emigration of Cuban doctors has been a growing constant in recent years, driven precisely by the inability to survive on public sector salaries.
The general minimum wage in Cuba rose to 3,210 CUP in July 2026, which means that a second-level specialist doctor earns only 2.76 times that national minimum, a meager proportion for a profession that requires between six and eight years of university training.
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