HAVANA, Feb 21, (AP): Cuba’s debilitated health care system has been pushed to the brink of collapse by the US blockading the country’s oil supply, a Cuban official said Friday. The country’s medical system was already perpetually crisis-stricken along with the island’s economy, with lack of supplies, staff and medicine long being the norm. But the turmoil has reached a new extreme in recent weeks.

Ambulances are struggling to find fuel to respond to emergencies. Persistent outages have plagued deteriorated hospitals. Flights bringing vital supplies have been suspended as Cuba’s government says it’s now unable to refuel airplanes in its airports. Experts and some leaders of other countries have warned that the island could be on the verge of a humanitarian crisis.

In an interview with The Associated Press, Cuba’s Health Minister José Ángel Portal Miranda said that US sanctions are no longer just crippling the island's economy, they're threatening "basic human safety.” "You cannot damage a state’s economy without affecting its inhabitants,” Portal said. "This situation could put lives at risk.” According to Portal, 5 million people in Cuba living with chronic illnesses will see their medications or treatments affected.

This includes 16,000 cancer patients requiring radiotherapy and another 12,400 undergoing chemotherapy. Cardiovascular care, orthopedics, oncology and treatment for critically ill patients who require electrical backup are among the most impacted areas, he said. Kidney disease treatments and emergency ambulance services have also been added to the list of impacted services.

The energy crisis Cuba has been grappling with for years entered new extremes last month when US President Donald Trump signed an executive order that would impose a tariff on any country that sells or provides oil to Cuba. It came just weeks after Trump deposed Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and announced no more Venezuelan oil would go to Cuba.

Cuba, which produces only 40% of its own fuel and largely depends on oil to power the island, has long relied on allies like Venezuela, Mexico and Russia to fill its energy deficit. But those shipments have now dried up. Trump has openly said that his larger hope is to push regime change in Cuba by intensifying economic pressure on the island, which has already struggled to cope with decades of US sanctions. Cuban people - who the US government has said it seeks to defend - are the ones feeling the harsh ripple effects of the US fuel blockade as hardship mounts every day.

Buses have slashed routes, gas has been put under strict rationing and is only being sold in foreign currency, and endemic blackouts have reached a new extreme. "There’s been a drastic change since January,” said Aniliet Rodríguez, a 25-year-old pregnant woman who was admitted that month to a maternal care center for an extreme case of anemia. "There’s no bread, no milk for nutrition … . There are no medicines.”