maintaining levels of activity that sometimes one wonders how it was possible
The Frank País center is deploying electronic health records, remote consultations, and telemedicine to improve orthopedic care across Cuba's provinces. The institution maintains high surgical activity levels despite energy shortages, medication scarcity, and transport limitations caused by economic crisis and US embargo.
- Frank País orthopedic center founded by Fidel Castro on November 16, 1988
- Electronic medical records, telemedicine, and remote consultation systems now operational
- This was the eighth health facility visit by President Díaz-Canel in 2026 for digital transformation assessment
- Center maintains high surgical activity despite power cuts, medicine scarcity, and transport limitations
Cuba's Frank País orthopedic complex is implementing digital transformation initiatives including electronic medical records and telemedicine, with President Díaz-Canel visiting to recognize efforts amid economic constraints and US sanctions.
On a Friday in late May, Cuba's President Miguel Díaz-Canel walked through the Frank País International Orthopedic Scientific Complex in Havana, the eighth health facility he has visited this year to witness the country's push into digital medicine. The center, founded by Fidel Castro in 1988 and shaped by its first director, the renowned orthopedic surgeon Rodrigo Álvarez Cambra, is moving forward with electronic medical records, remote consultations, and telemedicine systems—a transformation that carries particular weight given the circumstances in which it unfolds.
Cuba's economy is contracting. The U.S. embargo has tightened. Power cuts are routine. Medicines are scarce. Transport is unreliable. Yet the Frank País complex has not slowed. Dr. Osvaldo García Martínez, the center's director, explained to the President that the institution now operates electronic filing systems for patient records and outpatient visits, is implementing full digital health histories, and has launched remote education programs that connect surgeons across the country through virtual networks. The work continues because the staff has learned to improvise—sterilizing instruments at partner institutions, adapting and fabricating devices locally, leveraging the national telecommunications network that links the health ministry's facilities.
Díaz-Canel acknowledged the paradox directly. "In a situation where we lack electricity, where we lack supplies, where we have thousands of limitations in transport and medicines, you have maintained levels of activity that sometimes one wonders how it was possible," he said during his visit. The President framed the digital push not as a luxury but as a survival strategy and a statement of intent: Cuba intends to advance artificial intelligence applications in healthcare and strengthen the efficiency and safety of medical processes nationwide, regardless of external pressure.
The Frank País complex is no ordinary provincial clinic. It is a teaching hospital and research center, a reference point for orthopedic medicine across the island and beyond. Its reputation extends internationally. The digital transformation underway there—the electronic records, the telemedicine links to provincial doctors seeking consultation on difficult cases, the training center for minimally invasive surgery and microsurgery—represents both a practical necessity and a symbolic commitment. When resources are scarce, information must flow freely. When patients cannot easily travel, doctors must be able to consult across distance.
During his tour, Díaz-Canel visited the surgical training center, the orthopedic device manufacturing unit, and the children's play therapy area where young patients are psychologically prepared before surgery. He walked through the central surgical ward and spoke with physicians and nurses. In the visitor's book, he wrote of the staff's "effort, constancy, professionalism, innovative and scientific character, and humanism," describing them as "a bastion of the creative resistance that distinguishes our heroic people." The language was formal, the sentiment genuine: this institution, under duress, is holding the line.
García Martínez emphasized that digital tools have become essential precisely because they compensate for material shortages. The national telecommunications network allows the center to serve patients across all provinces without requiring them to travel to Havana. Specialists in distant regions can present cases for evaluation. Surgical teams can coordinate. The system, in effect, multiplies the reach of scarce expertise. It is a form of leverage—using information technology to stretch limited human and material resources further than they would otherwise go.
This is the eighth such presidential visit to a health facility undergoing digital modernization. The pattern suggests a deliberate strategy: showcase the transformation, acknowledge the hardship, affirm the commitment to technological advancement despite it. Cuba's health sector, the President stated, has the conditions and the potential to lead in this domain. The Frank País complex, with its national role and international standing, exemplifies what is possible when institutional will meets technical innovation under constraint. What remains to be seen is whether the digital infrastructure, once fully deployed, can sustain itself and expand—or whether the underlying material scarcities will eventually limit even the most ingenious digital solutions.
Notable Quotes
In a situation where we lack electricity, where we lack supplies, where we have thousands of limitations in transport and medicines, you have maintained levels of activity that sometimes one wonders how it was possible.— President Miguel Díaz-Canel
Digital tools have become essential because they compensate for material shortages and allow the center to serve patients across all provinces without requiring them to travel to Havana.— Dr. Osvaldo García Martínez, center director
The Hearth Conversation Another angle on the story
Why does a country under economic siege prioritize digital transformation in hospitals right now?
Because it's not a luxury—it's a multiplier. When you can't move patients or medicines easily, information has to move instead. A telemedicine link between provinces does the work of a fleet of ambulances.
But doesn't that just mask the real problem—that there aren't enough resources?
It doesn't mask it. It acknowledges it and works around it. The director said they sterilize instruments at other hospitals, fabricate devices locally, improvise constantly. Digital systems let them coordinate that improvisation across the whole country instead of each hospital struggling alone.
The President's language was quite formal—"creative resistance," "heroic people." Is that just propaganda?
It's both. It's political language, yes. But it's also describing something real: people maintaining surgical activity and training new surgeons while the power cuts off. That's not propaganda. That's what's actually happening in those operating rooms.
What happens if the power grid fails more often? Does the digital system collapse?
That's the real question nobody answered during the visit. Digital infrastructure needs reliable electricity. If blackouts become longer or more frequent, the telemedicine links go down. The electronic records become inaccessible. You're back to paper and improvisation—but now you've lost the coordination that digital gave you.
So this visit was about showing progress, but the foundation is still fragile.
Exactly. The Frank País complex is doing remarkable work. The digital transformation is real and useful. But it's built on a foundation that's under constant stress. The President's visit was genuine recognition of that effort, but it doesn't solve the underlying problem of scarcity.