Cuba’s once-lauded healthcare system is teetering on the edge of collapse, crippled by severe infrastructure failures and an unprecedented American oil embargo that took effect this year, according to reports by the news server CiberCuba. Daily blackouts and concurrent water shutoffs have paralyzed hospitals, leaving over 100,000 patients stranded on surgical waiting lists. At the same time, garbage piling up uncollected in the streets due to fuel shortages has spawned mosquito breeding grounds, triggering a sharp rise in vector-borne illnesses like the chikungunya virus.
Healthcare System on the Brink of Collapse
Hospitals across the island are struggling to function as fuel shortages shut down manufacturing plants and disrupt basic municipal services. Cuban Health Minister José Ángel Portal admitted in February that the national healthcare infrastructure is on the verge of total failure, explicitly attributing the crisis to the United States oil embargo. Echoing this assessment, Eduardo Martínez Díaz, vice president of the Cuban communist government, labeled the sanctions a “genocide,” stating that production facilities remain shuttered because they cannot secure necessary fuel.
Independent critics and opposition voices point to a different set of compounding factors behind the decline. According to opposition analyses, years of chronic underinvestment, widespread corruption, and the mass emigration of trained medical professionals have severely degraded the system long before the latest tightening of sanctions.
Did you know? Cuba’s population has dropped from approximately 11,2 million in 2017 to 9.4 million at the close of last year, driven heavily by an exodus that saw roughly a quarter of a million people leave the country in 2025, according to data from the EFE news agency.
Acute Medical Supply Shortages and Hospital Failures
Patients seeking care face overwhelmed facilities completely stripped of basic medical supplies. Cuban journalist Yoani Sánchez, who contracted the chikungunya virus, described visiting a local medical center where staff lacked both the capacity to run diagnostic tests and the injection syringes required to draw blood. “Why should I go to the hospital? There are crowds of people with a fever like the one I had,” Sánchez said. She added that non-functioning elevators due to electrical blackouts meant she would have been forced to climb 14 flights of stairs to reach treatment.
Pharmacy shelves tell a similar story of scarcity. CiberCuba reported that approximately 70 percent of essential medicines on Cuba’s basic drug list were missing in April this year. A domestic survey indicated that only about five percent of the population can acquire necessary pharmaceuticals without significant difficulty. Many households rely on improvised remedies, with citizens finding empty medicine cabinets save for isolated items like a few stray pain relief tablets.
Demographic Pressures and Infant Mortality Rates
The compounding crises have severely impacted vulnerable populations, reflected in rising infant mortality rates. Government data shows that Cuba’s infant mortality rate climbed from 0.4 percent in 2018 to nearly one percent in 2025. By early this year, the rate in Havana reached 1.4 percent, marking a twenty-year high for the capital city.
Simultaneously, the island is grappling with a steep demographic contraction. The country recorded just 68,051 births last year, representing a drop of roughly 3,100 newborns compared to 2024. With birth rates declining steadily over an extended period, approximately 26 percent of Cuba’s population is now over the age of 60.
Energy Dependence and Transport Disruptions
Cuba relies on imported fuel to cover two-thirds of its electricity consumption, historically depending on shipments from Mexico and Venezuela. However, the economic landscape shifted drastically after U.S. President Donald Trump ordered a halt to Venezuelan oil deliveries to Cuba following the seizure of Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro by U.S. forces. In late January, Trump signed a decree threatening secondary tariffs against any nation supplying petroleum to the island.
The resulting fuel deficit extends far beyond hospitals and power plants. Public transportation, commercial retail supply chains, and municipal waste collection have ground down to a halt. CNN reported that residents have resorted to inventive adaptations, transforming standard automobiles to run on wood charcoal and introducing solar-powered taxis to navigate the streets of Havana.
Frequently Asked Questions
What caused the current crisis in Cuba’s healthcare system?
The crisis is driven by a combination of severe fuel shortages stemming from tightened U.S. oil embargoes, daily electrical blackouts, chronic underinvestment, medical brain drain, and systemic corruption, according to local reports and official statements.
How has the oil embargo affected hospitals?
According to CiberCuba, fuel shortages have disrupted electricity and water supplies to medical facilities, leaving them unable to run diagnostic tests, operate elevators, or clear a backlog of over 100,000 pending surgical procedures.
Are basic medicines available in Cuban pharmacies?
How is Cuba handling the lack of fuel for transport?
With fuel largely unavailable for standard vehicles, citizens and local entrepreneurs have turned to alternative methods, such as converting cars to run on wood charcoal and operating solar-powered taxis in Havana, as noted by CNN.
What are your thoughts on how international sanctions impact civilian healthcare access? Join the conversation by leaving a comment below, and subscribe to our newsletter for ongoing updates on global health and geopolitical developments.