A video published on Facebook by Alianis Leyva illustrates with a real purchase the salary drama of Cuban doctors: with the 7,045 Cuban pesos that a newly graduated physician earns monthly —equivalent to about 10 dollars at the informal exchange rate— it is barely enough to buy a pound of beans, a kilogram of rice, a bottle of oil, three ripe bananas, and a pound of ground meat.
That basic basket totals 6,800 pesos, which leaves a margin of just over 200 pesos from the full monthly salary.
"It's quite sad that for such an important profession, their work only allows them to afford one meal," Leyva concludes in the video.
The salary of 7,045 pesos for a newly graduated doctor was established by the Resolution 17/2026 of the Ministry of Labor and Social Security, effective from July 1, 2026, with actual payment on the payroll starting in August.
Before that adjustment, the base salary was 4,610 pesos, making the nominal increase about 53%. However, at the informal exchange rate in effect this Wednesday—699 pesos per dollar—those 7,045 pesos amount to just around 10 dollars a month.
The complete medical salary scale after the reform is as follows: resident doctor, 8,115 pesos; first-degree specialist, 8,500 pesos; second-degree specialist, 8,880 pesos. None of these figures come close to the cost of living on the island.
The regime itself acknowledged that the new salaries "are still insufficient to cover the basic basket of goods and services," an admission that contrasts with the official narrative of continuous improvement.
The economist Javier Pérez Capdevila calculated that a Cuban family needs at least 96,060 pesos per month, of which 70,070 pesos would be solely for food: a figure nearly 14 times higher than the salary of a newly graduated doctor.
Prices in the informal market, where most Cubans buy their food, continue to soar. Oil has reached a price of 6,000 pesos or more per liter, the carton of eggs hit 4,200 pesos in August, and the pound of pork is priced between 1,500 and 1,900 pesos.
In this context, a Cuban doctor identified as "Maria Magdalena the Priestess" described the salary increase in July as a "global embarrassment", while another noted that the new salary "doesn't even cover a pack of chicken," which cost 11,300 pesos.
The salary crisis has driven a massive exodus from the sector: more than 30,000 doctors left the National Health System between 2021 and 2024, and the government itself acknowledged in July 2025 that over 24,000 healthcare workers were providing services abroad.
The video by Leyva, which had accumulated over 50,000 views at the time of this article, concludes with an open question to his followers: "What other professions would you like to know the monthly salary of?" This invitation reflects how the issue of low salaries is not exclusive to medicine, but rather a constant in the daily life of Cubans under the dictatorship.
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