A doctor from Sancti Spíritus took to social media this Tuesday to express her anger over the exorbitant cost of powdered milk, which she cannot afford for her daughter. The price on the black market is equivalent to two months of her salary while she is on maternity leave. Danielly Aróstica shared her story on Facebook, highlighting the economic crisis and the dire living conditions in Cuba, especially for healthcare professionals.
"As a Cuban doctor earning a basic salary of 5,000 pesos, and currently receiving 3,400 pesos during my maternity leave, it takes me two months of work to buy a can of milk on the black market. A can that doesn't even last a month if she drinks two 8-ounce glasses a day," she lamented.
Although her daughter was supposed to receive a special diet of two bags of whole powdered milk monthly, this was replaced by sporadic deliveries of liquid milk, often in poor condition. "The authorities decided it was too much," she said in frustration, criticizing the government's lack of commitment to providing essential nutrition for the most vulnerable.
Aróstica emphasized that only she, her family, and friends who have gone to great lengths to help care about her child's needs, blaming the regime for her daughter's lack of milk. Her daughter's situation is particularly dire due to her serious health conditions, including autosomal recessive polycystic kidney disease, secondary hypertension with left ventricular hypertrophy, portal hypertension, esophageal varices, erythematous-hemorrhagic gastritis, severe splenomegaly, severe iron deficiency, liver cirrhosis, splenorenal shunts, bronchial asthma, and atopic dermatitis.
Everyday Struggles in a Failing System
"We live in a country where we are worth nothing, where we are nobody because I don't have the money to buy what this country values for her life," she declared. Besides basic food items, her family faces high monthly expenses for medications and hospital visits, debunking the official narrative that healthcare and medicines are free in Cuba.
Her testimony underscores the desperation felt by countless Cubans who endure a collapsed economy and a system unable to meet their most fundamental needs. The hardship and scarcity affecting Cubans hit children especially hard, particularly those with chronic illnesses.
Widespread Milk Shortages
For example, Santiago de Cuba's government announced on Monday a shortage of powdered milk for children between 2 and 6 years old, worsening the already critical food scarcity in the province. The dairy company in Santiago de Cuba reported that distribution is now limited to children under one year, who will receive an extra 10 days' worth of milk, totaling 20 days in November.
In October, over 11,200 children in Matanzas province went without milk during the last week due to a power outage that left all of Cuba without electricity for five days, according to official sources. The national power grid's failure prevented milk distribution in the western province, as it couldn't be refrigerated before industrial processing, officials revealed on Wednesday.
This longstanding issue has led to makeshift solutions. In February, authorities in Ciego de Ávila announced that children ages three to seven and those with chronic conditions requiring special diets would receive only half a liter of milk and some vitamin-fortified instant drink due to the powdered milk shortage.
In August, a group of Cuban mothers voiced their outrage when the children's milk wasn't distributed in Havana stores, even though the month was ending. "Today is August 22, and in my store in Cerro, only 700 grams of milk per child over three years have arrived this month," a woman stated in the Facebook group "Cuban Mothers for a Better World."