A Cuban doctor identified on social media as Maria Magdalena the Priestess published a video on Facebook this Wednesday, reacting with outrage upon learning about the new salaries that doctors in the country will receive, describing the situation as a "global embarrassment" and noting that the increase amounts to just around 10 dollars a month.
"It is a global shame. The doctors in this country are a global shame," said the professional in the video, which garnered more than 17,000 views and nearly 200 comments within a few hours.
The reaction follows 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 that regulation, a newly graduated doctor will receive 7,045 Cuban pesos (CUP) per month, while a second-degree specialist will reach 8,880 CUP.
According to the current informal exchange rate —673 CUP per dollar in the informal market as of July 26— those figures equate to between 10.5 and 13.2 dollars per month, respectively.
"10 USD, given the current exchange rate of the dollar, 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 those amounts and the actual cost of living in Cuba is enormous: 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 solely for food.
A weekly purchase of basic food items 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, 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 from the regime: the opening of private pharmacies authorized by Decree 160/2026, which allows small and medium-sized enterprises and cooperatives to provide pharmaceutical services starting from August 4, 2026.
"Aside from the issue of pharmacies now being private, who will have access to those medications? I'm mentioning this because of the prices they will have," he pointed out, implicitly questioning whether even healthcare personnel 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 a shame we are giving or do you want us to give, because I am not going to play along."
"The value that you do not give yourself, no one else will give you," concluded the doctor in the video, in what seems to be a call to her colleagues not to silently accept working conditions that, in her view, degrade the medical profession.
The emigration of Cuban doctors has been a steadily increasing phenomenon in recent years, driven precisely by the inability to make a living with public sector salaries.
The general minimum wage in Cuba rose to 3,210 CUP in July 2026, which means that a second-degree specialist doctor earns only 2.76 times that national minimum, a meager ratio for a profession that requires between six and eight years of university training.
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