HAVANA, Cuba. – “Julio M. Aristegui” Teaching Hospital in the Cárdenas municipality, Matanzas province, is in a state of collapse due to the high number of COVID-19 patients, according to a video that a hospitalized individual made available to CubaNet.
The video shows dozens of patients overcrowding the facility, and people waiting in the corridors.
Yesterday, Cuba reported 3,519 positive cases of coronavirus, a record number for the country going on the third consecutive day. Matanzas has been the province most affected by COVID-19 during the last week, with 5,320 cases confirmed, 1,734 of those in Cárdenas, the municipality with the highest number of cases registered.
This comes with the collapse of other hospitals in the municipality and in the province. Last June 29th, CubaNet published a report where local residents attested to those facts. At the Cárdenas “Echevarría” Polyclinic Center “there are dozens of individuals waiting to be seen, many of them lying around in the building’s yard; everything has been militarized, and no one is allowed inside the polyclinic unless it’s an emergency. The town’s perimeter has also been closed off,” according to Orelvis Cabrera Sotolongo.
Another video released on social media on June 28th showed “Mario Muñoz Monroy” Hospital in Colón, Matanzas, in similar conditions: more than 20 patients thought to have COVID-19 crowded into waiting rooms and hospital corridors waiting to be seen.
Among the confirmed cases in the province, there are patients who already received the three dosages of the Abdala Cuban vaccine, which raises the question about the alleged efficacy of the vaccine announced by the island’s public health authorities.
Independent journal 14ymedio informed this Saturday that at least 48 Indian workers engaged in construction projects in Varadero were transported to Havana after testing positive to the very-contagious Delta variant of coronavirus.
Orelvis Cabrera Sotolongo emphasized that Russian tourism and Indian workers are the source of contagion and the reason for the serious health situation the province is up against.
Matanzas residents have also been reporting about the awful conditions at hospitals and isolation centers, as well as a general lack of medicines and medical personnel.
The situation is affecting the medical personnel as well. Dr. Leonardo Vázquez, who has been isolated at Campamento de Pioneros on 21st Street (Varadero) awaiting the PCR results, expressed his indignation with the dismal quality of food and professional attention given to doctors who risk their lives on a daily basis to fight the pandemic.
This physician told us the following: “I understand that the country is facing a complex situation at this time, but (…) it’s abusive when there are resources to supply the hotels and other facilities, so things cannot be that bad. We are your doctors, not some dogs you feed a slice of mortadella on a plate, and then they lick your hand and wiggle their tails. We’ve been fighting this thing for two years now (…) stepping forward, separating from our loved ones, risking our own lives, and every day we are treated worse than before, making our task more difficult. Enough is enough.”
Read in spanish here.
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