Cuba's healthcare system is now becoming increasingly strained as the continuing U.S. blockade on oil disrupts transportation, delays medical services and hampers the delivery of critical supplies, placing both doctors and patients under growing pressure.
The long-standing trade, economic and financial embargoes imposed by the United States on Cuba are taking their toll, with the country's national power grid suffering a complete blackout on Monday.
No fuel shipments have arrived in the Caribbean island nation for more than two months due to the tightening of the oil blockade imposed by the U.S. administration.
The widening impact is starting to affect the daily lives of people across Cuba and hurt essential services including healthcare.
In the capital Havana, local oncologist Olivia says she now needs to leave her home more than two hours earlier than usual to get to the hospital where she works.
While she would previously drive her own vehicle on her daily commute, the nationwide fuel shortage -- which has seen gasoline supplies limited and bus services significantly reduced amid wider public transportation disruptions -- means Olivia now has to stand by the roadside and flag down passing vehicles to give her a lift.
Each commute is filled with uncertainty, however, Olivia's priority concern remains on tending her patients.
"The sooner the oncologist sees the patients, the better for us to alleviate their pain. When I don't have personal transportation, my response time is a problem, and it's a practical problem in terms of whether I can meet the needs of patients," she said.
The general hospital she works for also receives cancer patients traveling from other regions of the country. Journeys have now become especially hard amid the current fuel crisis, adding to the woes of patients who are already suffering severe illness.
"Patients in the morning have to spend a long time getting here, often on an empty stomach. For example, they may leave home at 05:00 in the morning and only arrive at around 08:00 or 09:00. Then they stay here until 16:00 or 17:00 in the afternoon, completely exhausted, and most importantly in pain," said Maria del Toledo, a family member of one patient. Cuba's national power system has long prioritized hospitals for electricity supply, but the U.S.-enforced energy blockade since the start of this year has created fresh bottlenecks in transporting medical supplies, even affecting the scheduling of surgeries.
"The situation, which has worsened in recent weeks due to the fuel shortage, has had a major impact. Now things have become even more difficult because many of the important supplies require fuel, especially for sterilization products, consumable and non-consumable supplies. In other words, all of these essential supplies are affected by the difficulty in transportation yet they are crucial to address the surgical needs of the hospitals," said hospital director Mirtha Miranda Ley.
Inside the wards, some patients are in urgent need of blood transfusions. However, blood bank supplies have also become highly unstable due to mounting transportation challenges.
"I'm hospitalized because I suffer from internal gastrointestinal bleeding, and I lose a lot of blood. So right now, because of the current situation, everything is difficult. For example, transfusions are sometimes quite challenging at hospital blood banks," said patient Joaquin Gonzalez.
Facing growing difficulties, the hospital has been forced to adopt a rotating schedule of 24 hours on duty followed by 48 hours off for staff, as it does its utmost to maintain operations and take better care of the patients amid these trying circumstances.
US oil blockade hampers Cuba's healthcare system as staff, patients suffer
US oil blockade hampers Cuba's healthcare system as staff, patients suffer
The ongoing situation in the Middle East and tensions over the Strait of Hormuz, a vital shipping passage for oil and gas transportation, is likely to not only drive up the price of oil but also impact on a wide range of oil-derived products, a Chinese analyst has warned, adding that the current geopolitical scenario could lead to long-term changes in the global energy landscape.
The Strait of Hormuz, a narrow chokepoint between the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman, is the sole maritime outlet to the open ocean for the oil-producing Gulf States and has become a focal point after Iran threatened to target ships passing through in retaliation for joint U.S.-Israeli strikes.
The strait carries the bulk of crude oil exports from the likes of Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), and is also a crucial artery for liquefied natural gas, not least from Qatar, one of the world's largest suppliers.
During normal times, roughly 20 million barrels of oil pass through the strait each day, about a fifth of global consumption.
Data from Lloyd's List Intelligence showed while there were 1,229 passages between March 1 and 11 last year, there were only 77 vessels transiting during the same period this year, a drop of about 90 percent year on year.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi told U.S. media that the Strait of Hormuz remains open for international shipping except for vessels belonging to the United States, Israel and their allies, but many ships are avoiding the region altogether due to the high security risks amid the current crisis.
Qu Qiang, a fellow with the Belt and Road Research Center of Minzu University of China, said that the impact could have far-reaching consequences, not just for oil, but for all oil-based products.
"The Hormuz Strait is actually the most critical chokepoint of global energy and also chemistry and raw material supplies -- we're talking about 20 percent of the crude oil and gases actually being shipped through this strait and channel. But now we're looking at basically less than 10 percent of the supply has been maintained and that will very largely boost up the oil prices," he said.
"More than that, we probably have to understand the oil industry is the mother of all the modern chemistry industries, which means every day you're going to use the oil and [its] byproducts to produce fibers, medicines, chemical product and the plastics and all the things that rely on that. So if the chokepoint has been controlled and if that shipment will be curtailed, I think we're going to look at the major rise in everything [in terms of] prices," Qu continued.
To address the oil supply shortage, International Energy Agency (IEA) Executive Director Fatih Birol said on Monday that member states could release additional oil stocks as and if needed.
Last Wednesday, the 32 member countries unanimously agreed to make 400 million barrels of oil from their emergency reserves available to the market in response to disruptions caused by the Middle East conflict.
Qu welcomed the move but expressed doubt about its overall effectiveness as the ensuing uncertainty surrounding the conflict looks set to drag on.
"The supply crunch is going to be there for a very long time. The IEA, yes, has been doing a lot. Basically 400 million barrels is basically one-third of their total reserve for all the IEA members. But yes, a very good gesture, very good move, but barely helped. Because this is only four days of the global consumption and it has already been taken out of one-third of their reserves," said Qu.
Looking ahead, Qu also predicted there could a fundamental shift in the global energy landscape, noting that many nations are turning back towards traditional fossil fuels, and said he expects changes in future "petrodollar" trading practices in the long run.
"I think energy mix is going to be reformed. [The Republic of] Korea is resorting to [carbon-based fuel], it's resorting to the coal again. Japan tried to reactivate its large nuclear power, nuclear power is going to come back. Fossil fuels are going to come back and also the international oil prices are going to come back [down]. Also the whole geopolitical scenario is going to be reformed in the very long-term, like the petroleum-U.S. dollar system will also be further diversified and then [among] many new players, competition is going to pop out," he said.
Hormuz Strait tensions threaten to spike oil, byproduct prices; impact long-term energy landscape: analyst
