Kidney patients from Maisí reported the precarious conditions they face during their trips to Baracoa for hemodialysis, where they claim to be without electricity, drinking water, or food, and are forced to sleep on mattresses on the floor, a situation that even affects a child whom they describe as "almost malnourished."
A video shared on social media shows hemodialysis patients from Maisí denouncing the poor conditions at the center in Baracoa where they receive treatment.
"We are here without electricity, without drinking water... it's 12:20 and there is still no lunch," one of them complains. Another adds: "There’s nothing, there’s no solution here, the cold doesn't help, we have no water, we have nothing, the food is bad."
Patients report that they have gone two consecutive nights without electricity and three nights unable to sleep due to the heat. The bathrooms lack hygiene and the cooks are not provided with any basic supplies to prepare food.
"The cooks are given nothing to cook with. They are given nothing to cook with. Not oil, not fat, nothing, not even salt, absolutely nothing," recounts one of the patients.
The living conditions are equally precarious. "We have to throw the mattresses here on the floor, in the guest house, here in the dining room, here in the lounge, in order to sleep," describes another patient.
The comparison they make with animals encapsulates the group's desperation: "The buffaloes here have better conditions than we do. Here, we have no life at all, gentlemen."
The report concludes with a direct call: "What we are asking for is help, that you assist us."
Maisí, the municipality located at the easternmost tip of Cuba in the province of Guantánamo, is several dozen kilometers by road from the Octavio de la Concepción y de la Pedraja General Teaching Hospital in Baracoa, where patients with kidney disease from Maisí, Imías, and Baracoa receive hemodialysis.
Geographic distance turns any logistical deficiency into a direct threat to survival.
What is happening in Baracoa is not an isolated case. The hemodialysis crisis in Cuba affects around 3,000 patients spread across 56 units throughout the country, as acknowledged by the regime itself in March of this year.
In June, patients in Camagüey went almost a week without treatment due to a lack of acid concentrate and bicarbonate. In July, patients in Santiago de Cuba saw their sessions reduced from four to two hours due to a shortage of supplies. In Las Tunas, the ambulance service was halted due to the fuel crisis.
The regime responded in May with the announcement of the addition of 200 electric vehicles for patient transportation, and in August, assigned 20 electric cars specifically to Guantánamo. None of these measures resolved the shortage of medical supplies or the blackouts that disrupt the operation of the machines.
Hemodialysis is an essential renal replacement therapy for the lives of many patients and requires regular sessions, a continuous supply of electricity, properly treated water, and specific supplies. Interrupting the treatment can lead to serious complications, such as hyperkalemia, fluid accumulation, and pulmonary edema, which can ultimately endanger the patient's life.
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