A Cuban doctor who goes by the name @unadoctoracubana on TikTok highlighted the stark gap between salaries and prices in Cuba by documenting the cost of a weekly grocery shopping of basic food items: 40,400 Cuban pesos spent on essentials with no luxury items, a sum that exceeds five months of her salary as a doctor.
"I nearly had a stroke when I calculated how much we spent today to fill this fridge and we didn't even buy anything extravagant," the doctor began in the video, published on August 22.
The purchase was made with 70 dollars sent from abroad, converted to 46,200 Cuban pesos at the informal exchange rate of 660 CUP per dollar valid that day. With that money, he bought: a 10-pound pack of chicken (8,500 CUP), two pounds of ground beef (1,300 CUP), three pounds of pork (4,500 CUP), almost three pounds of smoked loin (6,200 CUP), 10 pounds of beef (12,000 CUP), a dozen eggs (4,500 CUP), and 10 pounds of rice (3,500 CUP).
"And that's not counting what was missing. 'Just for what I just showed you, that's 40,400 pesos, not including the meals, vegetables, and seasonings we use during the week,' the doctor clarified."
"Many of those who watch this video will think that this is a normal purchase, that it's relatively cheap, but there you have it, sir, more than 5 months of my salary as a doctor in Cuba," the doctor pointed out.
The question posed at the end of the video encapsulates the anguish of millions: "I wonder, sir, how are people who live solely on a single salary managing to survive?"
The doctor also casually mentioned that she was able to buy beef because "it seems to be legal now," referring to a regulated opening that allows authorized producers to market it through specific official channels, although it remains very limited in availability for the general population.
"It's a lot of work, a lot of sacrifice, and there's so much we have to come up with to put that food on the table," concluded the doctor, summarizing in one sentence the daily reality of those who support the Cuban healthcare system with salaries that barely cover even a week's worth of groceries.
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