Havana/Eduardo Rodríguez Dávila, Minister of Transportation, announced this Monday the launch of a fleet of 25 combustion buses and nine electric minibuses to guarantee the mobility of health personnel in Havana. However, the official himself admitted that the initiative will not initially cover all of the sector’s demand and that part of its operation also depends on the supply of fuel, which is almost non-existent in the country today.
In a message published on his social networks, Rodríguez Dávila reported that this new transportation will be provided by Transmed, a new state company that seeks to “prioritize the health sector” in the capital in the face of “a scenario of serious limitations with public transportation in general, exacerbated by the lack of fuel.”
The new MSME, created by the Ministry of Public Health and the Ministry of Transportation, in coordination with the Havana authorities, will operate pre-established routes that will connect hospitals in the capital, in addition to assuming certain transfers of “patients undergoing special treatments and cargo services linked to the health sector.” The initial park is made up of buses with capacity for 28 passengers, in addition to minibuses, which will have space for 13 seats.
Although the minister admitted the difficulty in guaranteeing that the program operates at 100%, he said that the cars will also offer service to the general population for a fee of 20 pesos.
The cars will also offer service to the general population for a fee of 20 pesos
In the rest of the country, in parallel, the initiative will deliver 15 minibuses and 34 cargo vans to the other provinces, all electric, which will be operated by the provincial transport companies, under similar principles to those of the Transmed company.
To this end, Rodríguez Dávila assured that “accelerated” progress is already being made in the installation of charging stations for all this equipment, with photovoltaic solar panels and accumulation, “so that it is not an additional burden for the national energy system.”
This new fleet of vehicles for the health sector is added to the incorporation of 75 new ambulances in the country, all electric, which arrived in Cuba between January and the first days of this month. Rodríguez Dávila explained that these cars have adequate autonomy, energy efficiency and maintenance support that ensures their operation.
The project, which exceeds 5 million dollars in investment, according to Dávila, will be financed by the Fund for the Development of Public Transportation of the Ministry of Transportation, while the Health budget in Havana will assume payment for the service in national currency. Meanwhile, the supplier will be MCV Commercialthe joint company between the Cuban State and Mercedes-Benz, which has already been involved in the arrival of other units in the country.
The supplier will be MCV Comercial, the joint company between the Cuban State and Mercedes-Benz
The energy crisis, worsened by the loss of oil given by its Venezuelan ally after the military operation to capture the then president, Nicolas Maduro, on January 3, has put essential services on the ropes, which, in addition to the damage to the ambulance service, has suffered hospital blackouts and the suspension of flights with medical supplies.
Since the beginning of January, weeks before the executive order which establishes that the United States may impose tariffs on goods from countries that sell or provide oil to Cuba, almost all minibuses GAZelle that operate in Havana were stopped due to lack of fuel. On January 7, local authorities said in a post from Facebook that “only a small group” of gazelles were operational and that “the few” that were operational “will not be able to make all of the planned trips.”
