Amid the deterioration of hospital services and the shortage of medications in Cuba, family members living abroad are sending money via Zelle to a supposed healer in Artemisa who claims to be able to combat serious illnesses, including cancer, with blessings and vitamin concoctions made by himself.
The practice was described in a report by Havana Times which examines how the crisis in the Cuban healthcare system has created a situation in which sick individuals and their families seek alternatives outside of conventional medicine.
The protagonist is Y. F., a man who presents himself as a healer and resides in the municipality of San Cristóbal, province of Artemisa.
According to the research, since the end of September, Cubans living outside the Island have been contacting him via WhatsApp and making transfers through Zelle to assist sick family members who remain in Cuba.
According to the media description, the procedure begins with a video call in which the man talks to the patient and offers his blessings.
Days later, the person receives vitamin preparations that the healer himself makes and attributes supposed properties to them for combating potentially deadly diseases.
Y. F. uses Facebook to disseminate testimonials from individuals who attribute their recovery to their interventions. In some posts, participants claim to have overcome serious illnesses after receiving unfavorable prognoses in Cuban hospitals.
One of the cases described involves a young woman who appears in a broadcast alongside the supposed healer. During the conversation, he claims that the doctors at the Hermanos Ameijeiras Hospital had not found a solution for her illness and attributes her improvement to the decision to seek his consultation.
In another recording, a woman claims to have recovered from breast cancer that, according to her own account, had spread to her brain and other parts of her body. The patient attributes this alleged recovery to the blessings and vitamins from the man.
However, none of those testimonies constitute an independent medical confirmation of the diagnoses, the mentioned referrals, or a causal relationship between the preparations and the patients' progression.
The report indicates that the healer's posts generate thousands of reactions on Facebook and that, on the days designated for receiving patients, many people gather at his home.
Those attending in person are required to bring containers to transport the preparations and, according to research from Havana Times, a fee of 100 Cuban pesos per consultation is requested, along with other contributions presented as voluntary.
The man claims that these contributions are used to sustain his activity and assist those in need. However, Havana Times points out that there is no known oversight of the money collected nor a systematic verification of the effectiveness of the procedures offered.
The article also does not specify how much money is received through Zelle, how many relatives residing abroad have made payments, or what the transferred amounts are.
The research also mentions a healer known as Jorge Goliat, who gained notoriety in Havana for allegedly performing interventions with a machete and using medicinal plants.
According to the information gathered by Havana Times, in April 2021 the Reuters agency documented the presence of over a hundred people waiting to receive their procedures, which included diagnoses made through smoke marks on paper.
That man claimed to be able to treat tumors and other diseases, although those abilities were also not supported by medical evidence.
The attention garnered by their practices even led to visits from police officers and health officials, according to the background cited in the report.
The absence of medical checks regarding the alleged cures becomes particularly relevant when it comes to oncological diseases, whose treatments require diagnoses, specialized monitoring, and clinical decisions based on scientific evidence.
However, the National Cancer Institute of the United States is firm in stating that there is no evidence that vitamins, medicinal herbs, dietary supplements, or their combinations can cure cancer, stop its growth, or prevent its recurrence.
The institution also notes that some natural products may interfere with cancer treatments and recommends consulting healthcare professionals before consuming them.
But the critical situation in Cuban oncology care, marked by a shortage of medications, the deterioration of hospital equipment, and difficulties in accessing specialized treatments, creates an environment conducive to the emergence of these practices.
In October, reports based on official figures acknowledged that more than 70 people die daily from cancer in Cuba and that approximately 300 out of the 395 medications produced by the national pharmaceutical industry are missing and included in the basic health care inventory.
The figures also reflected a decline in cancer survival rates for children and adolescents, with the rate dropping from 85% to 65%, according to data presented by Cuban authorities.
The lack of medication has forced numerous families to turn to networks of solidarity, donations, and purchases from abroad to continue prescribed treatments.
In August, for example, relatives of a young Cuban with cancer requested public assistance to obtain chemotherapy medications that were not available in the hospital system.
This scenario helps us understand why some patients and their loved ones seek additional solutions, even though desperation due to a lack of care does not make ineffective treatments that lack scientific support any more effective.
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