The provincial pediatric hospital Hermanos Cordové in Manzanillo, located in Granma province, received a donation of medications and sanitary supplies this Saturday, delivered by the sociocultural project Corales del Golfo and the Surprise Gifts Agency RL, reported the station Radio Bayamo.
Among the delivered items are fever medications, cotton swabs, dressings, syringes, needles, gloves, and face masks.
The center's director, Dr. Alberto Damián García Guerra, received the donation and expressed gratitude on behalf of the families and the health staff.
"These medications and supplies will be used in the care of hospitalized children, prioritizing those receiving treatment in the therapy, oncology, and cardiology wards," García stated.
The gesture also involved the special collaboration of the French project Un Toit Pour Cuba, which has joined similar solidarity initiatives in the region on several occasions, stated the source.
The "Hermanos Cordové," the oldest pediatric center in the province of Granma, serves children from the municipality of Bartolomé Masó to Pilón, covering the Cauto and Guacanayabo regions.
The donation arrives during a period of acute health crisis in the country, with a severe impact in the province. In July, an activist reported that the general hospital of Manzanillo lacked basic supplies to care for an injured patient.
In April, a baby died at the Carlos Manuel de Céspedes provincial hospital in Bayamo due to not receiving an essential antibiotic in time.
At the national level, in April there were 461 out of 651 essential basic medicines missing in state pharmacies, more than 70% of the list.
The Minister of Public Health, José Ángel Portal Miranda, acknowledged that the healthcare system is "on the brink of collapse".
This dependence on external solidarity is seen throughout the country. Recently, private economic actors delivered juices to the pediatric hospital in Las Tunas due to the lack of baby food for the children receiving care there.
Additionally, in mid-month, the Santiago hospital Juan Bruno Zayas received donated medical supplies from a solidarity group in Chile.
In early August, Bahamas announced the shipment of the first of three loads of pediatric oncology medications to Cuba, in a context where the survival rate of children with cancer dropped from 85% to 65%, according to figures cited by the Cuban ambassador in that country.
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