The divide inside Cuba’s healthcare system

For decades, Cuba’s government has promoted its healthcare system as a central achievement. The original SOS for Cuba project contrasted that public message with images of neglected facilities and a separate standard of care marketed to foreigners.

This migrated article intentionally excludes the former website’s COVID-era material, statistics, claims, and media.

The Mazorra deaths

In January 2010, a cold wave brought temperatures in Havana down to approximately 39°F (4°C). At the psychiatric hospital commonly known as Mazorra, more than two dozen patients died. Contemporary accounts described severe malnutrition, inadequate clothing and blankets, and deteriorated facilities.

The episode became a lasting example of what can happen when vulnerable patients have little public visibility and institutions are protected from independent scrutiny.

Conditions in public facilities

The original site collected photographs shared by Cubans showing broken beds, deteriorated rooms, overcrowded hallways, and unsanitary conditions.

A deteriorated room inside a Cuban hospital — A public hospital image preserved from the original SOS for Cuba archive.

A damaged hospital bed in Cuba — A damaged bed inside a public facility.

A different standard for medical tourism

Facilities serving diplomats, foreign businesspeople, and medical tourists were presented very differently. The Cira García Central Clinic in Havana advertised private rooms, modern equipment, air conditioning, hot water, satellite television, and other amenities.

Exterior of the Cira García clinic in Havana — The Cira García clinic, marketed to international patients.

Lobby of the Cira García clinic — The lobby of the Cira García clinic.

Private patient room at the Cira García clinic — A private patient room shown in clinic marketing.

The issue is not that comfortable medical care exists. It is that access, resources, and accountability can diverge sharply between institutions serving ordinary Cubans and those designed to bring foreign currency into the country.