A Cuban woman reported the theft of her sister's wallet inside the Lenin General University Hospital in Holguín, where she was staying to care for their father, who had been admitted for over a week.
Among the stolen items were personal documents, bank cards, the patient's pension checkbook, and even the medications that the family had to purchase on their own due to a lack of supplies in the hospital, explained the young woman, identified as Yelina Betancourt on Facebook.
According to the testimony, the theft occurred at night, and the stolen wallet contained a cell phone, identity card, bank cards, the father's pension checkbook, and the patient's medications, which the family had to purchase outside the hospital due to a lack of supplies. They also had disposable diapers that they had bought on their own.
The video accompanying the complaint shows the father's bed and the presence of bedbugs in the area. "Look at my dad, he's right here and all of this is full of bedbugs, look at that disgusting sight," the creator of the clip can be heard saying.
Beyond the theft, the publication describes a scenario of healthcare collapse: the hospital's medical equipment is broken and does not allow for diagnostic tests, making it impossible for doctors to determine whether the patient is suffering from ischemia, a heart attack, or paralysis. There are also no supplies for laboratory analysis.
"Everything depends on medical judgment because the equipment is broken. It's just as shameful for those who are responsible for fixing or repairing such important equipment in a hospital, not to mention that there's nothing to perform tests with," Yelina lamented.
El Lenin has accumulated a long series of similar complaints since mid-2025. In August of that year, patients and their families reported infestations of bedbugs and cockroaches, bathrooms without water, collapsed ceilings, and decomposing food.
Months later, a video showed a patient being transported in a chair due to a lack of stretchers, without any IV bags or syringes available. And in October 2025, power outages left patients at the center without hemodialysis.
The pattern of thefts within Cuban hospitals is also a widespread phenomenon in 2026. In August, reports of belongings being stolen in hospitals in Santiago de Cuba emerged due to systematic security failures, and a security guard died in the parking lot of the Las Tunas hospital during a vehicle theft. Additionally, a resident doctor in Cienfuegos reported the theft of her laptop containing thesis data and documents inside a hospital.
This situation forces patients' relatives to use their own resources to make up for what the system does not provide, making them vulnerable targets for thieves within the very health centers.
According to data on the Cuban health crisis collected by Infobae, 461 out of 651 essential medications were out of stock in state pharmacies in April 2026, representing a deficit of over 70% of the basic list.
"What a sad reality is experienced in my Cuba," concluded Yelina Betancourt in her post.
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