Sancti Spíritus protects care for hemodialysis patients despite US blockade

Despite fuel limitations, in Sancti Spíritus, priority is being given to transporting hemodialysis patients to the Camilo Cienfuegos General Hospital.

The director of the Taxis Cuba agency in the province, Omar Cardoso Hernández, explains how this vital service is being ensured.

“Following the established measures regarding the use of electric vehicles for essential healthcare activities, the province decided to transport the 37 local patients from the municipality of Sancti Spíritus using the ecomobile service, the ‘yellow cars,’ as the locals call them.”

“Sixteen patients are transported on one trip, 21 patients on another, and the remaining patients from the rest of the municipality are also transported.”

“In Trinidad, La Siepe, Taguasco, Jatibonico, Fomento, and Cabaiguán, taxi service is being maintained, using the bare minimum of fuel. The intention, for now, is to continue transporting patients to the nephrology ward. And in the specific case of Yaguajay, service continues using our existing fleet of vehicles to transport patients.”

“Based on our assessment, there is only one patient from here, from the town of Sanctoi Spíritus, for whom we will be seeking alternative transportation to the hemodialysis unit. It’s just one. For the rest, there are no issues with transportation in the electric vehicles.

Similarly, patients from the Sanctoi Spíritus Psychopedagogical Center are being transported in ecomobiles.”

Cardoso Hernández also argues that electric minibuses maintain essential routes in urban transportation and guarantee mobility amidst the energy crisis.

In Yaguajay, Cabaiguán, and Trinidad, they maintain real-time service to the population—that is, urban transportation. In the specific case of Sancti Spíritus, since we have been using a reduced service level for transporting hemodialysis patients, the 16 minibuses that run on Monday are replaced on Tuesday by those that were previously on Monday’s route.

In other words, on the alternate days when they are not assigned to state-run transportation, they continue to operate their routes.