A drying oven at the Eduardo Agramonte Piña Pediatric Hospital in Camagüey caught fire this Tuesday around 3:15 PM, in an incident that caused confusion and alarm among the staff and visitors at the facility, according to independent journalist José L. Tan Estrada in his segment #TanteandoCuba.
The chaos escalated because the fire coincided simultaneously with the reception of a seismic alarm on mobile phones that turned out to be false that same day, noted the reporter.
"The smoke and the seismic alarm at the same time caused confusion and alarm among the people who remained in the area," described Tan Estrada.
The false seismic alert triggered panic in Cuba in at least nine provinces, including Camagüey, and was dismissed by the National Center for Seismological Research (CENAIS) and the Civil Defense.
According to the testimony received from Tan Estrada, the fire started because the oven's thermostat did not activate to stop it, allowing the equipment to keep running until it caught fire. The fire occurred near the cardiology consultation, which was concluding at that time.
The emergency escalated from the outset due to the lack of fire extinguishers at the location. Doctors and other individuals present had to resort to the soil from nearby planters to try to extinguish the flames while waiting for the firefighting equipment.
"After a while, a fire extinguisher appeared and the fire was brought under control," reported the journalist. However, the firefighters arrived late.
Fortunately, no human or material damage was reported as a result of the incident.
The incident adds to a series of documented problems at the same facility. In July of this year, the hospital's main generator caught fire, leaving the facility reliant on a lower-capacity generator that could only support Intensive Care, Intermediate Care, and the Emergency Room.
The Provincial Directorate of Public Health of Camagüey denied that fire and described it as an "unexpected contingency" due to mechanical failure.
The deterioration of the pediatric hospital in Camagüey has broader background. In October 2025, it was reported that there was only one pediatrician to attend to the entire hospital, and in May of that year, extreme unsanitary conditions were documented in the Gastroenterology ward, with cockroaches, stagnant urine, and dirty utensils.
In July 2026, there was also a report about the lack of an urgent antibiotic for a 13-year-old girl admitted to the facility.
The incident this Tuesday is also part of a broader pattern of fires in Cuban hospitals during 2026: in April, the Hospital Saturnino Lora in Santiago de Cuba caught fire, the General Hospital of Cienfuegos also experienced a fire that same month, and in May, the Manuel Fajardo Hospital in Havana was affected by a blaze.
In several of these cases, the same deficiencies were evident: a lack of operational fire extinguishers and delays in the response of the firefighters.
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