In the midst of the severe economic crisis and the complex health situation in Cuba today, Havana will have a bus service for workers in the Health sector, authorities reported.
The initiative, named “Transmed”, will begin “in the coming weeks” with “a first batch of 20 new buses,” according to what the Cuban Minister of Transportation reported on his networks.
In your publicationdedicated to mobility in the Cuban capital regarding its 506th anniversaryEduardo Rodríguez Dávila considered that this service “will be very well received by the population” due to “the nature of the services it offers.”
Although he did not offer more details about it, the minister promised to comment more on Transmed “soon”, presumably when it begins to operate or is about to do so.
The measurement scenario
Rodríguez Dávila’s announcement takes place in an extremely difficult scenario for the Health sector in Cuba and, in particular, in Havana.
On the one hand, it occurs with the current arbovirus epidemic—mainly dengue and chikungunya—as a backdrop, which would have sickened at least a third of the Cuban populationaccording to evaluations by the Ministry of Public Health (Minsap) itself.
The capital is one of the provinces most affected by this situation, which keeps the island’s medical services and hospital centers at capacity, and causes the infection of thousands of people every week and a death toll not publicly revealed by the authorities.
Meanwhile, in the streets and on the networks, citizen questions are multiplying about the government’s actions, both due to the delay and limited scope of the measures to deal with arboviruses and due to the lack of medicines, the state of health facilities and the management of public information about the epidemic.
On the other hand, the next bus service for the Health sector would arrive at a time when the country is suffering a sustained decline in the number of health workers, due to the many difficulties they face in adequately carrying out their work, the search for economic improvements in other sectors, emigration, and the socioeconomic crisis of the island in general.
Nurses from Santiago arrive in Havana to support dengue and chikungunya
More about transportation in Havana
In addition to the Transmed announcement, in his publication Rodríguez Dávila referred to the current state of transportation in the Cuban capital and several of the programs underway.
The minister acknowledged that public passenger transport is going through “very difficult times,” with “the lowest number of buses circulating in the city since we have kept these statistics.” This, he said, is a consequence of a group of problems ranging from “inadequate maintenance and limited access to spare parts” to fuel shortages.
However, he considered projects that have been in operation for some time, such as electric tricycles and minibus routes, as well as the new ambulance management model in operation in Havana and the buses operated by different state companies.
In addition, he announced the purchase of 15 electric hearses for the capital, which will operate “under a new sustainable management model,” and confirmed that before the end of the year the first buses to be repaired in Guanajay should be ready. donation from China.
These buses, he assured, “will gradually be incorporated into the public transportation service.”
