An elderly man died at the hospital in Nueva Gerona, on the Isle of Youth, after spending about eight hours waiting for an ambulance from the SIUM at the medical post in the town of La Demajagua, until his family decided to transport him by their own means, according to a report shared on social media.
The profile on Facebook Carapachibey Pinero, managed by Ramón Leyva Morales, shared this Thursday the testimony of Katerin Furones, who explained how the lack of electricity and difficulties in accessing emergency medical services affected the care of two patients in that rural area.
The situation began when Furones' 87-year-old grandmother fell, suffering a severe blow to the head and a bruise. The family took her on their own to the medical post in La Demajagua, where the on-duty nurse determined that she needed to be urgently transported to the hospital.
The blackout left the area without mobile phone signal, so the family had to go to the police to request that they contact the SIUM via radio. The response was that an ambulance would come to pick up the patient. It was around 9:00 PM.
During the night, another elderly person arrived at the post, suffering from severe pain and also in need of transport. The SIUM was informed of both cases and reported that the ambulance would be delayed, but it would come for both patients.
"Several times he called, insisting, and the response was always the same," Furones recounted.
The ambulance did not arrive. The two patients remained at the clinic until dawn, as the blackout continued. At 5:00 am, when the electricity was restored and it was possible to contact SIUM directly, the family was told that "the ambulance didn't have enough fuel to reach La Demajagua and return to Gerona."
Furones questioned whether that was the reason for the delay throughout the night. "How is it possible that from 9:00 PM to 5:00 AM they say the ambulance has no charge when they are parked at the hospital and the power doesn't go out there?" he wrote.
In the absence of the service, the family purchased fuel at market prices and hired the same private transport they had used to reach the health clinic. This allowed them to take the 87-year-old woman to the hospital, where she was admitted to intensive care.
The second patient was taken by his son on a bus that left early from La Demajagua, about 20 kilometers from the capital. "Well, that person passed away in the hospital," Furones wrote.
The report does not establish that the delay of the SIUM directly caused the patient's death, but it does document that he spent the night at the clinic waiting for an ambulance and that he was eventually taken to the hospital by a family member before passing away.
"Regardless of the real problems present in the country, as long as those who lead this piece of land do not become aware and stop being passive while trying to justify everything, this will not improve even a little," Furones concluded.
Upon sharing the complaint, Leyva wrote: "Perhaps his life could have been saved," while municipal authorities were tagged in the post, including the mayor Leonardo Cruz Cabrera, the municipal director of Public Health Bárbara Daudinot, the deputy director of medical assistance Idalmis Jiménez, and the communicator of the Municipal Assembly of People's Power, Meilim Batista.
At the end of August, María Luisa Mendoza, 27 years old and sister of the Cuban pitcher Héctor Mendoza, passed away at the Héroes del Baire municipal hospital in Nueva Gerona after being admitted with a case of hemorrhagic dengue at a center that did not have serum to treat her.
In April, a citizen died in Santiago de Cuba after waiting more than four hours for an ambulance; the hospital cited a lack of fuel, while in June, a mother reported that her son's transfer with cerebral palsy was denied for the same reason.
The Minister of Transport, Eduardo Rodríguez Dávila, announced in January the arrival in the country of 50 new ambulances acquired by the Ministry of Public Health (Minsap), as part of a program to improve emergency medical services.
In addition, the Minsap incorporated in February 25 Chinese electric ambulances for transfers in Havana.
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