A caravan of second-hand ambulances leaves Mariel

A Second Hand Ambulance FleetIt is believed to be able to join the Comprehensive Medical Emergency Service (SIUM), recorded driving on the highway leaving Mariel towards Havana.

A driver managed to capture the moment Ambulance Caravanof the brand Mercedes-Benz, left Mariel. He shared the video on the Trabajadores del SIUM Facebook group and his post generated comments from health workers in Cuba.

“We are Provincial SIUM We have to wait. I’m sure I’ll reserve them for a national emergency,” said one user.

“Let’s see if any provincial SIUM is available because they are always there for national emergencies. When I deal with them, I think so,” said another.

Many comments indicate that the ambulance situation in the provinces is very poor. There are no vehicles to get to the countryside, or they are broken down, with no tires and no batteries. This has also led to fuel shortages across the country.

“Some time ago they donated 3 second hand units to Santiago de Cuba and they stopped after 4 months. They had it when they got here. A journey of thousands of kilometers And they are incompatible with other existing models in the country No spare partsAnother person said.

The Ambulance shortage in Cuba It has affected people for years. The situation became more complicated during the coronavirus crisis when patients died at home awaiting the arrival of IUMS.

The Ambulance shortage It has not improved in the post-epidemic period. A few days ago, a relative of an elderly man who suffered a stroke in Havana denounced the fact that he waited more than 60 hours before being transferred to a hospital.

In February, independent Cuban photographer Ariel Maceo Telles was a Ambulance Cemetery in Havana.

His post was widely discussed on social media because it called on Colombian Vice President Francia Marquez to think twice if he really wanted to copy Cuba’s public health system.

In 2021, MCV Comercial SA, a Cuban distributor of Mercedes-Benz products, was handed over to the regime. Seven ambulances to transfer patients.

The vehicles arrived in the midst of the country’s worst coronavirus peak as health infrastructure collapsed. They are second hand ambulances from Spain.