Cuban Doctors Claim Patients Are Beginning To Die Due To Lack Of Fuel From U.S. Blockade: Report

Cuban doctors claim that medical patients are beginning to die as conditions in the island deteriorate due to continued lack of fuel from the ongoing U.S. blockade, according to a new report.

Six doctors who spoke to The New York Times said conditions at hospitals and clinics across the country are leading to otherwise preventable deaths.

"I can't tell you how many deaths, but I'm sure there are more than in the same period last year," Alioth Fernandez, chief anesthesiologist at Havana's largest pediatric hospital, told the outlet "I see it in shift handovers, in colleagues' comments and in children I've operated on."

The report went on to say that hospitals are canceling surgeries and sending patients home because doctors and nurses can't get to the facilities. Hospitals can't provide chemotherapy and dialysis either, and the production of medicine has been halted as well because there is no fuel.

It is the latest account detailing how Cuba's conditions continue to deteriorate. Juan Carlos Albizu-Campos Espiñeira, a Havana-based economist, told the LA Times that the current conditions mark an unprecedented low, pointing to soaring inflation, declining public services and long-standing structural weaknesses.

The crisis has intensified in recent weeks as the island experienced multiple nationwide blackouts. According to Cuban authorities, the country has not received foreign fuel supplies for three months and currently produces only about 40% of the energy it needs, as Al Jazeera points out.

Two tankers believed to be carrying Russian oil head to the island, which continues to face acute fuel shortages.

CNN reported that the Anatoly Kolodkin, which has been sanctioned by the U.S., the UK and the EU is carrying 730,000 barrels of Russian oil and is heading to Matanzas. It departed from Russia in early March and is now in the middle of the Atlantic.

The vessel joined the Sea Horse, which this week resumed navigation to the island after diverting course in February. The vessel is believed to be carrying some 200,000 barrels of gas oil.