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Cuba’s healthcare system strains further as energy shortages disrupt cancer care, patients report
The Apex Times

THE APEX TIMES

International/The Apex Times/Jul 2, 8:00 PM EDT

Cuba’s healthcare system strains further as energy shortages disrupt cancer care, patients report

A cancer patient in Havana’s orbit says she has been unable to obtain a CT scan for months because the only machine at the country’s leading hospital is broken, underscoring how fuel and parts shortages are rippling through medical services.

3 min readEditor-approved Apex article

BATABANO, Cuba, July 2, 2026 (AP) - After years of cancer treatment that included two surgeries and multiple rounds of radiation therapy, 34-year-old Irisleydis Tristá says she has spent the past seven months without a crucial CT scan to see whether her tumor has grown or spread, a delay she links to equipment failures at Havana’s Hermanos Ameijeiras Hospital.

Tristá, who lives about 70 kilometers south of Havana and is the mother of a 13-year-old, told reporters that the CT scanner at the hospital has been broken. She said her doctors told her they could not operate again because of a lack of resources, leaving her without a way to determine her condition. “I feel like my life is in danger,” Tristá said. “I don’t know if it has grown. We have no way of knowing.”

The case is one example of what analysts say is a sharp deterioration in Cuba’s once-universal, free healthcare system. The strain has intensified alongside Cuba’s wider economic crisis, which has included worsening energy constraints, supply interruptions, and shortages of medical inputs.

Hospitals across the island face shortages of basic supplies and medicines, including syringes, gauze, vaccines, and anesthetics, according to the reporting. Facilities also reportedly lack spare parts needed to repair critical equipment such as hemodialysis machines and CT scan systems, contributing to gaps in diagnostics and treatment that can affect patient outcomes.

The reporting attributes part of the worsening crisis to fuel shortages linked by analysts to U.S. sanctions that they say have tightened access to energy for the island. In parallel, the Trump administration has been pressing Cuba’s socialist government to pursue major economic reforms and change its governance approach in exchange for sanctions relief, according to the article’s description of the U.S. posture.

Beyond medical machinery, patients also face nonmedical obstacles that can interfere with treatment plans. Tristá said food shortages have made it difficult to follow the diet prescribed by her doctors, adding another layer of strain for families trying to support long-term cancer care amid broader shortages.

The accounts come as Cuba continues to rely heavily on domestic capacity for healthcare services. With diagnostic delays and equipment downtime reported at major facilities, patients who require ongoing monitoring may face additional time without imaging or specialist interventions, while caregivers weigh treatment options inside a system experiencing what the reporting describes as deepening constraints.

U.S. and Cuban officials have not been detailed in the reporting on whether specific CT scanner repairs or new equipment procurement are underway at Hermanos Ameijeiras Hospital. For patients like Tristá, the immediate next step remains access to imaging and clinical decisions about whether additional interventions are possible, depending on what resources can be restored in the coming months.

Why It Matters

  • When diagnostic imaging is unavailable, cancer patients may go without timely information needed to choose next steps in treatment and monitoring.
  • Breakdowns at a major national hospital can widen delays for patients who rely on scarce imaging capacity rather than repeat travel or private alternatives.
  • The article frames the medical shortages as intertwined with energy and supply constraints, raising questions about whether sanctions policy and energy access are affecting health outcomes.
  • If equipment downtime persists due to missing spare parts, the impact can extend beyond individual cases to entire service lines such as CT diagnostics and hemodialysis.
  • The reporting highlights how U.S.-Cuba negotiations over sanctions and reforms may carry humanitarian consequences for routine medical care.

Sources

Key Facts

  • Cancer patient Irisleydis Tristá says she has been unable to obtain a CT scan for seven months.
  • Tristá attributes the delay to a broken CT scanner at Havana’s Hermanos Ameijeiras Hospital.
  • She previously underwent two surgeries and multiple rounds of radiation therapy over the past four years.
  • Doctors told Tristá they could not operate again in Cuba due to lack of resources, according to her account.
  • The article describes shortages across Cuba hospitals, including syringes, gauze, vaccines, and anesthetics, and a lack of spare parts to repair equipment.
  • Analysts cited in the reporting link worsened conditions to fuel shortages tied to U.S. sanctions affecting Cuba’s energy sector.
  • The report also describes U.S. pressure on Cuba for economic and governance reforms in exchange for potential sanctions relief.