An independent study conducted by the Cuban Observatory for Citizen Auditing (OCAC) and [published](https://cubasiglo21.com/the-collapse-of-cubas-healthcare-system/) on Monday by the Madrid-based *Cuba Siglo 21* think tank found that the communist regime is severely downplaying the number of preventable deaths caused by an ongoing epidemiological crisis.

According to the study, titled “The Collapse of Cuba’s Healthcare System,” at least 8,700 Cubans have died as a result of a simultaneous occurrence and intensification of several diseases such as Dengue, Zika, and Chikungunya — a number that is 185 times higher than the 47 deaths that the Castro regime has publicly acknowledged.

The study found that these preventable deaths are the “most visible and striking expression” of the collapse of Cuba’s healthcare system under the communist Castro regime.

OCAC, an independent civil society organization, prefaced its report by stating that its findings allow the organization to state, “without ambiguity,” that the collapse of the Cuban health system is not due to “inevitable fate, external factors, exceptional epidemiological contingencies, or adverse climatic events,” but that it is instead a direct consequence of the Castro regime’s policies, which have progressively dismantled the Cuban state’s essential capacities to protect the health and lives of its population.

Cuba Sees 185x More 'Preventable Deaths' with Healthcare System