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Cuban Observatory of Conflicts logged 65 health complaints in October and 300 missing medicines
The monthly report gathers complaints from maternity hospitals in Matanzas, Camagüey, Santiago de Cuba and Holguín, and comes after the health ministry acknowledged that infant mortality rose from 7.1 to 9.9 per 1,000 live births between 2024 and 2025.
The Cuban Observatory of Conflicts (OCC) documented 65 events related to public health in October, against 69 in September, and recorded that 300 of the 395 medicines on the basic list were unavailable. The magazine Alas Tensas published the tally drawn from the organisation's monthly report.
The complaints follow the health ministry's acknowledgement of a rise in infant and maternal mortality in 2025. Deaths of children under one year old rose from 7.1 to 9.9 per 1,000 live births, an increase of 39.4%. Maternal mortality rose from 40.6 to 44.1 deaths per 100,000 live births, 8.6% higher. The official figures for both indicators were released in January 2026.
The report carries testimony from patients at the Matanzas maternity home, admitted for high-risk pregnancies, who complained of small portions and meals low in protein. By those accounts they depended on food their relatives brought from home, an added burden amid rising prices for basic goods and difficulties getting around. One patient aged 33 had spent three weeks in hospital during her second high-risk pregnancy.
On 22 October the independent journalist José Luis Tan Estrada released a video filmed at the Ana Betancourt de Mora maternity hospital in Camagüey showing newborns lying on damaged chairs and cloth in the pre-delivery room because, the complaint says, no cots were available. The OCC document also records the death of a newborn at that hospital after an induced labour which, according to the complaint cited, was prolonged for more than 24 hours without a caesarean.
At the Matanzas maternity hospital, patients reported an infestation of bedbugs, and some pregnant women preferred to sleep by day to avoid being bitten at night. In Santiago de Cuba the complaints pointed to rats in the perinatal area of the Juan Bruno Zayas Alfonso hospital. At that same hospital Aniari Barrientos Vázquez, 26, died on 27 September, four days after being admitted for induced labour; her relatives reported a lack of communication from medical staff and poor hygiene, and no official determination of the cause of death has been reported.
In Holguín the observatory documented that nurses resort to manual procedures to keep newborns alive when power cuts stop the equipment in neonatal wards. The shortage of medicines coincided with blackouts and interruptions to the water supply at various medical facilities.
Sources: Infobae · Alas Tensas · Serie Yamacoa: Mortalidad infantil (ONEI / MINSAP)
Data updated: 2026-11-03T16:15:00.000Z