A Cuban mother reported that her daughter, despite suffering from a toothache, was unable to receive care at the Hermanos Martínez Tamayo polyclinic in Baracoa, Guantánamo, for a reason as basic as it is alarming: there was no cotton.
The woman shared a video on Facebook that went viral, surpassing 8.7 million views and 309,000 reactions.
"The latest is that they can't attend to my little girl here at the clinic, to treat a tooth that is in pain because there is no cotton here. Look, this is a lack of respect," she complains while showing the interior of the health center.
The scene sparked an avalanche of comments from Cubans who claimed to have faced similar situations and had to go to healthcare centers bringing even the necessary materials to receive care.
"And if you bring the cotton, there are no needles, and if you bring the needles, there is no water," one user quipped.
Another person shared that they had to procure "everything" on their own for a tooth extraction, including the cotton.
From Santiago de Cuba, a woman described an even broader reality: "Here in Santiago, there is nothing; right now, there is nothing in the hospitals, everything has to be brought in."
The shortage of basic supplies in Cuban dental services is not new. In August 2024, two polyclinics in Santiago de Cuba reported a lack of implements to address dental emergencies.
A year later, in Cárdenas, Matanzas, a Cuban extracted a tooth in his own home with an improvised tool due to the difficulties in obtaining dental care.
The report from Baracoa also emerges amid a deep crisis in the Cuban healthcare system, characterized by the shortage of medications, reagents, medical supplies, and other essential resources.
The authorities themselves have acknowledged in recent years a minimal availability of essential medications. In May 2026, in addition, that more than 100,000 patients were waiting for delayed surgeries in Cuba, including more than 11,000 children.
It is not the only recent case of a family reporting deficiencies in healthcare for minors. Just ten days earlier, another Cuban mother reported that her seven-year-old son did not receive timely care because the laboratory of a polyclinic was not operating due to a lack of reagents.
One of the reactions to the Baracoa video encapsulated the sentiment expressed by many users: "You can no longer go to any healthcare center if you don't bring everything."
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