Cuban hospitals are struggling with critical shortages of medicines, medical equipment, and basic supplies alongside persistent power outages as tighter US restrictions further complicate the country's access to essential imports, a report shows.

CBS News carried the report on Sunday, offering a first-hand account of complications facing the medical sector.

At William Soler Pediatric Hospital in the capital, Havana, doctors recently treated a severely malnourished and dehydrated two-month-old boy weighing less than five pounds. The infant, who had been brought to the hospital by protective services after being abandoned, required specialized formula that has become difficult to obtain.

"We have to make do with formulas made from malanga — a starchy root vegetable — and chicken," said Dr. Alejandro Chong, head of the hospital's intensive care unit.

The United States has imposed a total trade embargo on Cuba since the early 1960s and the victory of the Cuban revolution.

The administration of US President Donald Trump has implemented a series of additional economic restrictions against the island nation, including an energy blockade, openly promoting “regime change” there.

Washington, meanwhile, claims its sanctions are not intended to restrict food and medical supplies, but foreign companies fearful of US penalties have become reluctant to sell them to Cuba.

Washington also claims Cuba's economic deterioration is down to decades of mismanagement and corruption, while Havana denounces the US for subjecting the nation to embargo and sanctions.

Cuba has introduced major economic reforms this year, including ending state monopolies in fuel, banking, and pharmacies. However, US fuel exports to the private sector remain prohibitively expensive.

Cuba’s healthcare crisis has been aggravated by electricity shortages. Cuban officials say only one oil tanker has reached the island since early January, severely straining its power grid. Doctors reported having to finish operations using mobile phone lights when generators fail and manually pump oxygen for patients when ventilators stop working.

"Those few seconds might seem insignificant to someone outside the medical field, but they're precious seconds when you're dealing with a patient under general anesthesia or a patient on a ventilator in the intensive care unit," Chong said.

Cancer drugs, anesthetics, and laboratory equipment are also critically scarce, the report added.

Doctors told the network that a toddler had waited 68 days for an artificial lung machine component needed for surgery, compared with the usual two-day waiting period.

The two-month-old boy was readmitted to intensive care following respiratory complications, but died on Thursday, Chong confirmed.

Medical personnel struggling to make ends meet

Low salaries and difficult working conditions have driven many doctors out of the profession or abroad.

Chong said he earned more from his food stand than from running the intensive care unit.

"There are fewer personnel, fewer resources, and it makes all the work we're doing much more difficult," said pediatric surgery resident Dr. Lórien Rodríguez, who works as a radio announcer.