As Cuba’s health care system faces mounting pressure from fuel shortages, blackouts and growing strain on basic infrastructure, including shortages impacting medical services and supplies, a Cayman-based community initiative has delivered more than 1,000 pounds of medical supplies directly to hospitals and clinics in Havana.
The initiative, Blue Unicorn, was launched in February by Cuban national Marlon Alejandro Riera Tabares, who has lived in Cayman for the past eight years.
Riera Tabares, who comes from a family of medical professionals, said he created the project after hearing increasingly alarming reports from health care workers in Cuba about worsening shortages and deteriorating conditions inside hospitals.
Working with local donors and volunteers, the group has collected and shipped medicines, medical equipment and essential health care supplies to hospitals and clinics struggling with severe shortages across Havana.
The supplies – including syringes, gloves, thermometers, bandages, vitamins, baby formula, glucometers, fever-reducing medication, gauze, face masks, antiseptic wipes, oral rehydration salts, non-controlled antibiotics, prenatal vitamins and diapers – have been distributed to five medical facilities in Havana, including a pediatric hospital and community clinics.
The shipments are being coordinated directly with medical professionals in Havana to ensure supplies are distributed according to need.
The effort comes as international organisations warn that Cuba’s health care system is under increasing strain.
United Nations officials said on 15 May that hospitals across the island have been forced to suspend surgeries and delay treatments due to blackouts, fuel shortages and limited access to medicines and medical supplies.
More than 100,000 patients, including around 11,000 children, are reportedly awaiting delayed surgeries, while disruptions to transportation and refrigeration systems are affecting access to care nationwide.
UN officials also warned that pregnant women, dialysis patients and cancer patients are among those increasingly vulnerable as hospitals struggle to maintain consistent operations during prolonged electricity outages.
UN Resident Coordinator Francisco Pichón recently described hospitals scaling back operations and warned that the country’s energy crisis was increasingly affecting access to health care, clean water and essential services nationwide.
Cuban doctors describe mounting need
Messages shared by Cuban doctors receiving supplies through Blue Unicorn describe increasingly difficult conditions inside hospitals and clinics as shortages continue to deepen.
Dr. Armando Tabares, a Cuban emergency physician whose clinic has received supplies through Blue Unicorn, said in a statement shared with the Compass, “It’s very difficult to work without resources, without medical supplies, without medicine, and often without electricity.”
He added, “Although health care institutions now have solar panels as an alternative, a lot of energy is consumed, and with the frequent blackouts, the energy storage systems are insufficient.”
Tabares said fuel shortages have also disrupted public transportation, making it harder for both health care workers and patients to reach hospitals and clinics.
“Thanks to the modest assistance we have recently received from the people of the Cayman Islands, our polyclinic has improved, allowing us to provide better patient care,” he said.
Doctors at El Pediátrico del Cerro in Havana, a pediatric facility receiving assistance through Blue Unicorn, said recent shipments that included fever-reducing medicine, steroids and glucometers arrived during a period of severe shortages.
“We have already received the donation,” said Dr. Lexa Morales in a message of gratitude. “The staff collective, doctors, nurses, and the patients thank everyone who contributed in one way or another.”
Support from the Cayman community
The initiative has received support from across the Cayman community, including pharmacies, clinics, fitness organisations, the hospitality industry and private donors. Caymanian lawyer Lynn Bodden and businessman Mario Ebanks have also been directly involved in planning.
“Since we launched the project at the end of February to the time I complete this week’s shipment, we will have donated approximately 1,100 pounds of medicines and medical supplies,” said Riera Tabares.
Riera Tabares said donations have so far reached five medical centres in Havana, including a pediatric hospital, with the next shipment scheduled for 21 May. That delivery will also include the initiative’s first donation to the Isle of Pines.
To donate, contact Blue Unicorn via instagram.
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