The saturation of the health system forces the creation of an annex hospital at the university, despite protests from medical students, who had not been notified.
MADRID, Spain.- Students from the University of Medical Sciences of Matanzas reported having been evicted without prior notice from their residences so that the facilities could be used as a makeshift hospital, in the midst of an uptick in arboviruses that keeps the Eliseo Noel Caamaño Provincial Pediatric Hospital saturated.
The complaint was spread by the activist Niover Licea on social networkswith images showing student belongings on campus sidewalks. “They ordered us to evict without prior notice. It is a lack of respect. There is no food for those who stay, and they want to resolve suddenly what they did not foresee from the beginning,” declared one of the affected young women.
The evicted students point out that the measure was improvised, without alternative accommodation or food guarantees. “The ineptitude of a public health ministry that does not do its job is very strong for us,” said a young woman.
The students also stated that they received warnings not to spread images or statements, under threat of possible retaliation.
Annex Hospital at the University of Medical Sciences
According to a social media post by Pedro Rizo Martínezthe Government enabled this annex hospital at the University of Medical Sciences of Matanzas to care for children without complications and under observation, as part of a contingency plan in the face of the increase in cases of dengue and chikungunya.
The director of the pediatric hospital, Dr. Anaelis Santana, explained that, by protocol of the Cuban Ministry of Public Health, all children under ten years of age with fever or arbovirus symptoms must be admitted, unlike adults. He also said that at times the hospital has been full, but that hospital flow strategies and the discharge process have allowed all patients to be treated.
The official Girón Newspaper recognized that the pediatric hospital operates at 100% of its capacity and that it plans to expand by 100 additional beds to care for febrile patients.
The authorities assure that there is no shortage of medicines and that medical teams have been reinforced. In contrast, several testimonies denounce precarious conditions and lack of transparency. They also confirm the presence of the Minister of Public Health and national directors on site.
The improvisation of outpatient hospitals in university facilities reflects the impact of hospital saturation in Matanzas, where the circulation of arboviruses and other viral diseases has overwhelmed the capacity of the health system.
“What is happening here is not an accident, it is the result of months of lack of control,” said one of the evicted students.
The health crisis is not exclusive to Matanzas. Other provinces face similar epidemiological scenarios, amid structural deficiencies, medication shortages and citizen distrust in the state health system.
This week Cuban epidemiologist Francisco Durán stated that no deaths from arboviruses have been reported in the country, despite rumors that spoke of several deaths in Matanzas, and assured that the health system is “under control” and responding to the outbreak.
However, the real conditions contrast with that official version: hospitals in a precarious state, lack of supplies, shortage of medicines and accumulation of garbage and visible unhealthiness, factors that favor the proliferation of the mosquito vector. In Cuba, dengue, chikungunya and the Oropouche virus circulate simultaneously, with active transmission in multiple provinces and cases hospitalized for dengue in serious condition.
