The drama of the Cuban with chronic kidney failure: “I fight for my life every day”

In 2018, Héctor Lázaro González Aguirre’s only kidney stopped working. It wasn’t until that moment that he realized that his condition was going to be life-threatening. Now 39, he must be hooked up to a hemodialysis machine in order to survive. But the continuous use of the catheter caused him multiple complications that prevented the treatment from being completed. “Soon I won’t be able to have hemodialysis”, we can read on the platform to fund me A few friends started a fundraiser so he could receive treatment outside of Cuba.

Hector is a reporter. Cuban. from Alamar. He said his illness came as a surprise at an intense time in his career. He was treated at Havana’s Nephrology Institute, where he spent nearly three months in intensive care, but experts were still unable to elucidate the cause of his condition. He showed no symptoms of other illnesses that might have affected him.

Hector’s call for help has not yet begun.exist In October 2022, the media echoed a video He posted a Facebook post requesting urgent care and alternative treatments for the end-stage chronic kidney failure he was suffering from. Since then, the critical condition of the Cuban journalist has been reported. A year after recording, he’s still waiting.

Those who knew him from his time at the School of Communication know his persistence, as well as his pain. Several former college classmates living outside Cuba mobilized social networks so he could leave the country on a humanitarian visa and get the medical care he needed. One of the few possibilities for his case is enrolling in a peritoneal dialysis (PD) program — a treatment that uses the lining of a patient’s abdomen, or abdomen, to filter blood from the body — but the treatment is currently in short supply in Cuba.

«There is a lot I can say about Hector, but the most important thing to me is that he has been a model of resilience, perseverance and conviction. Hector started studying journalism at the University of Havana at the age of 25. Not because he spends time thinking or traveling, but because he works as a welder in a port. Hector, who started his career without a computer, lives in Alamar. Many times, he was the last to leave the university’s computer lab, almost at midnight, only to return to class the next morning.», wrote Journalist Mónica Baró on her Facebook profile.

Official data from the Ministry of Public Health (MINSAP) refer to In 2021, more than 4,500 patients will receive long-term hemodialysis and only about 80 patients will receive peritoneal dialysis. About 1,000 people receive kidney transplants. Frequent complaints on social networks suggest that care for these patients has deteriorated as the crisis in the Cuban health system intensifies.

September 2022 User Dalgier Moliner commented an article of touch That «A hepatitis positive patient is being treated with a glass syringe»; and also «There is a leaky service(…) and there is no way to specify the input(arrival) at the proper time».he also emphasized Gloves and sanitizing substances are in short supply.

Cuban Minister of Public Health Jose Angel Portal Miranda, admit In a recent review of the sector, 2022 saw shortages of medicines and low coverage of medical supplies, with immediate impacts on health services. In addition to the aforementioned problems, there are also growing problems with the technical infrastructure, including obsolescence and broken equipment, he added.

Hector’s life now depends on the solidarity of the joiners the bell Raise funds to support their right to be treated with dignity. The 21 catheters used on his body severely damaged his vascular system, his main vein was blocked, and it was impossible to give him dialysis through this route. In Cuba, he has no choice, time is against him.

at this associate You can find testimonies and possibilities to work with you abroad and with treatment programs abroad.

«In order to address my condition with more urgency, I chose to explore options for a PD program abroad.For this reason, I decided to apply humanitarian visa For the United States.Missing a few weeks of treatment would directly threaten my life», Hector said in a statement.

Other similar cases

July 2023 Cuban doctor Camilo Manuel Oliva Fajardo rebuke Through a Facebook post, he had been abandoned for years as a kidney failure patient; a condition that increasingly shortened his “quality and time of life”.

“I need help with medical supplies for hemodialysis because I am affected every week by the lack of medical supplies and there is no solution,” the Cuban doctor revealed, claiming he has “the last arteriovenous fistula, which cannot be cured” . any other courses. “

Roberto Borges Leal, a man from Camagüey with the disease, Alert In March 2023, he was unable to receive treatment for several days because of problems with the hemodialysis service at the city’s hospital. “They say there are no dialyzers or branches for treatment, which is very important for life,” Roberto said.

On the other hand, independent media in April 2023 cubanet warn Dozens of people in two hospitals in Holguin were infected with hepatitis C due to a violation of biosecurity measures during hemodialysis. As of now, no official statement has been made on the facts.

The social network has once again become a whistleblowing site to achieve visibility of key cases that were otherwise unknown. In May 2023, a Cuban father made a is called To save the life of my daughter who was hospitalized in the island’s medical facility. “I needed a permanent pediatric hemodialysis catheter for my daughter in Cuba (…), but I didn’t have it,” she said without the device.

Mailin Rueda Sevila is also applying for a humanitarian visa for her 9-year-old son who suffers from end-stage chronic renal failure.Juan Ernesto Benítez Rueda Children must undergo hemodialysis three times a week for three hours in Santiago de Cuba —mother explained a video spread the word on social media— Two years ago, he was ready for a transplant from a living donor.

“His father hit it off with him and he was going to donate a kidney to him. The country doesn’t have the resources for an operation of this magnitude,” said Merlin, who also organized a series of events money Support outlying islands procedure. here They can learn about their history and help their families.

More kidney patients in Cuba

Dr. Remberto Cruz Pérez, specialist in nephrology at the Provincial General Hospital of Santo Spiritus “Camilo Cienfuegos” and director of this service, explained It was revealed to a provincial media in July 2023 that Cuba “has more patients on hemodialysis,” while only 6% (approximately) of those still receiving kidney treatment received peritoneal dialysis and a kidney transplant. He noted that these medical procedures have decreased in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. Likewise, Jorge Pordieguez, Director of Investments at the Ministry of Public Health, acknowledged “the increase in cases of kidney failure in Cuba and the difficulty of transporting patients to provincial capitals for treatment”.

According to one notes In May 2022, the French agency issued an official announcement to provide loans for the activation of 332 hemodialysis machines in 56 national health institutions. January 2023 advertise As a result of the institution’s credit, nine hemodialysis facilities were incorporated. The services will be operational in the first half of this year.Of the ones that have been propagated so far, only one has been enabled new service This type is located in Consolación del Sur, in the province of Pinar del Río.

Cuban state rhetoric links deficiencies in the care of kidney patients to the impact of U.S. sanctions on the Cuban government. As far as hemodialysis is concerned, Lemberto Cruz said that “artificial kidneys are imported from European countries” and that the technology “could be bought in the United States if there were no blockade, and it would be cheaper in terms of transport.” ”

Experts from Sancti Spiritus also emphasized that most of the technology, disposables and medicines are imported. In this sense, Cuban Prime Minister Manuel Marrero Cruz, admit In MINSAP’s balance sheet, “the lack of foreign currency revenues hampers (…) the progress of acquiring resources to guarantee the health needs of the people.”

Although public spending on health is one of the largest items in the annual national budget, since 2014 investments in public health and social assistance —This ensures the creation of new capacity, the maintenance of existing capacity and the purchase of new equipment— The proportion of total investment in the country has not yet exceeded 3.6% (the official data is the figure reached in 2016). In 2020, after the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, investment in the sector accounted for only 0.9 percent of total investment, while investment including hotel construction surged to 45.6 percent.

Against this background, complaints and requests for international assistance on social networks are becoming more frequent so that patients with complex or terminal diseases can receive care in other countries. Fundraising for Cuban immigrants, access to humanitarian visas, and collaboration with NGOs became the only option for those who could not find the medical care they needed in Cuba.

that’s the way they’re going now Hector Gonzalez Aguirre and John Ernest Benitez, two Cubans End-stage chronic renal failure, unable to receive treatment on the island. For both, looking outward is the only source of confidence.