A fire that broke out in areas of the Provincial Surgical Clinic Hospital "Arnaldo Milián Castro" in Santa Clara was extinguished this Saturday by firefighters, according to the Cuban News Agency on its Facebook account.
The fire, classified as small-scale, was brought under control before the flames spread to other areas of the center. The intervention of the firefighters prevented significant material damage to the hospital's infrastructure.
Authorities from the center confirmed that the incident did not result in any fatalities or injuries, and that the inpatient services, emergency departments, and specialized areas continued their usual operations throughout the episode.
The images shared along with the report show the interior of a hospital area filled with smoke, debris scattered on the floor, and emergency personnel in fluorescent yellow vests working in the affected zone.
The Arnaldo Milián Castro is the largest hospital center in Villa Clara: it has 600 beds, 36 services —ten of which are at a regional level— and 16 operating rooms. It was inaugurated on October 8, 1990, and serves as a reference for high-complexity specialties in the central region of the country.
The fire occurs at a time of severe deterioration of the infrastructure at that hospital. Last June, the center was without water for more than 72 hours due to the breakdown of the pumping system's turbines, a situation that forced surgeons to wash their hands using buckets of water. In August, failures in the national electrical system left hospital circuits in Villa Clara without power.
The incident is not an isolated event. Throughout 2026, a series of fires have been reported in Cuban hospitals, highlighting the critical state of the country's healthcare infrastructure. In April, the intermediate care unit of Neurology at the Saturnino Lora Hospital in Santiago de Cuba caught fire, leading to the evacuation of 12 patients. That same month, another fire was reported at the Gustavo Aldereguía Lima Hospital in Cienfuegos, which was contained in 45 minutes without any injuries.
In May, the Manuel Fajardo Hospital in Havana suffered a fire attributed to the overheating of a lamp's transformer. And in August, the Eduardo Agramonte Piña Pediatric Hospital in Camagüey reported a fire in its Sterilization Central caused by a faulty drying oven thermostat.
In all these cases, the causes point to a common denominator: obsolete equipment without maintenance, chronic electrical failures, and a lack of basic fire prevention measures in facilities that serve thousands of patients.
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