Cuban citizens rely on volunteer pharmacies as drug shortages worsen

In Havana’s Vedado district, volunteers gather twice a week to distribute medications requested through messaging apps, offering them at no cost. Laura Mendoza’s project, part of a network of roughly 100 similar efforts, receives weekly shipments of over 13 kilograms of medicine from charities and donors in Canada, the United States, and local contributors. State pharmacies, long the backbone of Cuba’s subsidized drug system, now supply only about one-third of the 603 medicines listed in the basic program, with many items unavailable due to import restrictions and fuel shortages.

The Health Ministry reports that a large share of pharmaceuticals cannot be produced because raw materials are scarce, and shipping firms avoid Cuban ports over U.S. penalties. In July, authorities permitted private pharmacies to operate, hoping entrepreneurs will import drugs, but these outlets have not yet opened. Meanwhile, patients face soaring informal prices, with some paying up to 1,000 Cuban pesos for a blister pack that once cost 0.30 pesos, straining pension incomes.