The Materno Norte Tamara Bunke Hospital in Santiago de Cuba received an ambulance donated by the Russian city of Saint Petersburg this Wednesday, as part of the 52nd anniversary of the sister city relationship between both cities, which will be commemorated in November, according to CMKC Radio Revolución.
The vehicle, marked with the inscription "Gift from St. Petersburg to Santiago de Cuba," will be assigned to the Provincial Integrated Medical Emergency System (SIUM) with priority for the Maternal and Child Care Program.
Authorities from the Health sector, the Party, and the provincial Government attended the delivery event.
The equipment includes specialized technology for the safe transport of newborns and pregnant women: cardiac monitoring systems, ventilation, and refrigeration to maintain blood and fluids at the appropriate temperature.
The unit from Santiago is part of a batch of three neonatal ambulances donated by St. Petersburg to Cuba—one for Havana, another for Matanzas, and one for Santiago de Cuba—which arrived on the island via the port of Mariel in August 2026.
The official joint delivery of the three units took place at the beginning of October at the Ramón González Coro Teaching Gyneco-Obstetric Hospital in Havana, with participation from the Russian Embassy in Cuba.
The commitment to donate the vehicles was made by the governor of Saint Petersburg, Aleksandr Beglov, during his visit to Cuba in November 2025.
The donation arrives at a critical moment for Cuban healthcare transportation: the Ministry of Public Health itself acknowledged that the country had only 39.6% of the necessary ambulances.
In Santiago de Cuba, the situation was especially serious: the SIUM declared at the beginning of 2026 that it had no operational units, and in April of that year a man died after waiting more than four hours for an ambulance; his family reported that the vehicle could not leave until it had gathered four patients due to fuel restrictions.
The Tamara Bunke North Maternal Hospital is the main gynecological and obstetric center in eastern Cuba, with over 180 beds —30 of which are for neonatology— and approximately 3,000 births annually.
The healthcare cooperation between Saint Petersburg and Cuba has intensified in recent months: in March 2026, the Cuban Deputy Prime Minister Óscar Pérez-Oliva traveled to Saint Petersburg to expand bilateral cooperation in health, education, culture, and biopharmaceutical industry, and in April of that year, the Russian city also donated a supply of medications earmarked for Matanzas and Santiago de Cuba.
The sister city relationship between Santiago de Cuba and St. Petersburg —then Leningrad— dates back to around 1974; in November 2024, its 50th anniversary was celebrated with cultural activities and the signing of a library cooperation agreement between both cities.
CMKC Radio Revolución reported that "the delivery occurs while the SIUM in the province is reorganizing its resources to improve response to obstetric and neonatal emergencies."
Related videos:
Filed under: