Several newborns had to be laid down in old chairs in the pre-delivery room of the Ana Betancourt de Mora Provincial University Gyneco-Obstetric Hospital in Camagüey, because there are no available beds to accommodate them, according to a video shared this Thursday on Facebook by the independent journalist José Luis Tan Estrada.
"Look at this! Newborns lying on old chairs and dirty cloths in the pre-delivery room of the Maternal Hospital of Camagüey, because there are no available beds for them," wrote Tan Estrada when posting the images under the hashtag #TanteandoCuba, which garnered over 47,000 views in just a few hours.
The complaint is not an isolated incident but the most recent episode in a series of documented irregularities at that same center throughout 2026.
In April, Tan Estrada had already reported that pregnant women in Ward A were waiting in hallways on worn mattresses, without privacy or adequate ventilation.
In May, a photograph displayed electric motorcycles parked inside the perinatal care unit, an area that requires strict hygiene conditions.
That same month, the journalist reported the death of more than 15 babies in the hospital between January and May, attributed to negligence and leaks of wastewater from an upper floor bathroom that fell into the neonatal area, leading to the presence of bacteria and insects.
In June, a mother recounted that her baby suffered from pulmonary, gastric, and cerebral hemorrhages, cardiac arrests, kidney damage, and seizures for four days before passing away, in a harsh testimony about the conditions of the hospital.
Cuban health authorities have not issued any verifiable public response to any of these allegations.
The deterioration is not limited to the maternity hospital. The Manuel Ascunce Domenech Provincial Hospital, also in Camagüey, has reports of overflowing toilets, bed bugs in patient beds, and moldy walls.
The management of that center acknowledged on Wednesday the physical deterioration of the building, although it appealed to the "morality" of its workers as a response.
The report is part of a health crisis that the OPS has documented throughout Cuba: the infant mortality rate on the island increased from 4.9 per 1,000 live births in 2020 to 9.9 in 2025, an increase of approximately 148%.
The Pan American Health Organization estimated that more than 33,000 pregnant women have limited access to ultrasounds and fetal monitoring due to equipment failures and extended blackouts, while the Minister of Public Health himself acknowledged in July 2025 that the system was operating with barely 30% of the basic medicine supply.
The image of newborns lying in rickety chairs encapsulates, in just three seconds of video, the true state of a healthcare system that the Cuban regime continues to present as an achievement of the Revolution.
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