The president of the Venezuelan Medical Federation (FMV), Douglas León Natera, said Wednesday that in the country “there is no guarantee of the right to health” due to the hospital crisis that the nation is experiencing as a result, mainly, of the lack of medicines and medical supplies.
According to a press release, León indicated that more than 80% of the healthcare network, made up of 301 hospitals, has been “ruined and abandoned for many years.”
“The health crisis situation is so serious and deadly in Venezuela that patients are rouletted daily from hospital to hospital, without being able to be treated,” said the spokesman of the medical union.
He asserted that in public health centers there are no medicines, water and electricity services fail, elevators do not work, equipment is lacking, patients' right to food is not guaranteed and biosafety supplies are not provided to staff.
In addition, he denounced that “the buildings of more than 7,000 clinics disappeared, including those of the Barrio Adentro government program”, a situation “of abandonment” to which “the hospitals of the Venezuelan Institute of Social Security, which is now practically non-existent”, are added.
León said that “many patients have died due to lack of medicines and medical care”, and therefore considered that the abandonment of the public health system “violates human rights” and constitutes “a crime against humanity, since (Nicolás) Maduro must guarantee health, in accordance with the Constitution” .
Despite this situation, in the draft national budget, presented in December 2021, “the word health appears only once”, which is “the commitment to allocate 20% of the amount, estimated at 13,437 million dollars,” he added.
On April 1, the union demanded from the regime a hospital recovery plan in which the provision of infrastructure and equipment prevailed, in addition to a basic salary for workers of $1,500 per month, compared to the minimum $30 that they currently earn.
According to Chavismo, which maintains that the health system responds to the needs of citizens, the shortcomings that can be detected are due to the sanctions that the US and other countries apply to the country, which prevent the investment of a larger budget in all sectors, including health.
(With information from EFE)
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