A Cuban family made a desperate plea on Facebook this weekend to obtain 1,000 mg intravenous paracetamol, the only medication that can stabilize an eight-year-old child admitted in critical condition at the Comandante Pinares General Teaching Hospital in San Cristóbal, Artemisa province.
The minor, whose identity has not been revealed, suffers from epilepsy and is caught in a cycle of high fever and seizures that do not subside, precisely because there is no way to lower his body temperature without that medication.
"My family is going through a very difficult time. We have an 8-year-old boy hospitalized in critical condition. He has epilepsy and is suffering from high fever and seizures. Since the fever is not going down, he cannot come out of the seizures. We urgently need to obtain paracetamol for intravenous administration, as it is the only way he can receive it in his current situation," wrote Sureivy Torres, the author of the post and a relative of the child.
The specific medication required for the child is "Paracetamol Normon 10 mg/ml infusion solution," an intravenous formulation that is essential when the patient cannot take medication orally.
"If anyone has it or knows of a pharmacy, hospital, or anywhere we can get it, please write to me as soon as possible. We will pay whatever is necessary," added Torres, who closed his message with a phrase that summarizes the urgency: "Every minute counts."
The case illustrates the pharmaceutical collapse that Cuba is experiencing. The Minister of Public Health, José Ángel Portal Miranda, admitted before the National Assembly that only between 30% and 32% of the basic medication supply was available in the country, while in provinces like Ciego de Ávila availability fell to just 10%.
By April 2026, 461 out of 651 essential medications from the national basic list were missing, and in June, Biocubafarma admitted that it could not guarantee nearly 300 of the 395 drugs promised to the national health system.
Antiepileptic drugs are among the most affected groups. In July, Medicuba S.A. reported the retention at the port of Cartagena of two containers with sodium valproate, a critical antiepileptic drug for thousands of Cuban patients, including children.
The reliance on social media as the sole means to obtain medications that the healthcare system does not provide has become a documented pattern on the island.
In August, the mother of Rosmiel Jesús Sánchez Castillo, another eight-year-old boy with severe epileptic encephalopathy, publicly denounced the state's abandonment and the lack of antiepileptic drugs and basic supplies in Pinar del Río.
"We unfortunately live in a country that lacks resources, under a government that only thinks of its own benefit, under a supposed medical power that is a lie," wrote Rosalba Castillo, mother of Rosmiel, in a viral post.
The United States Embassy in Havana warned this month that common medications like paracetamol, ibuprofen, and antibiotics "are often in short supply" in Cuba, and advised travelers to bring their own supplies.
The Comandante Pinares Hospital, where the child is currently hospitalized, is the largest healthcare facility in Artemisa: it has 420 beds, 39 specialties, and 22 services, but like other hospitals in Cuba, it operates amid a shortage of over 70% of the necessary medications.
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