Spanish – Nicolás Maduro’s regime published a list of 35 hospitals that would supposedly be able to treat patients with the coronavirus (COVID-19). However, most of these health centers are in intensive care and on the verge of collapse.
The civil association “Red de Médicos por la Salud” (Network of Doctors for Health) had access to the list of care centers that the Ministry of Health had provided in its care plan for those possibly affected by the Covid-19 outbreak.
According to the Chavista Health Ministry, Venezuela has “hospitals equipped” to deal with a possible pandemic, but of all the hospitals on the list, there are some that have been out of service since 2018.
“The list includes the Dr. Leopoldo Manrique Terrero Hospital, which has been closed since November 8, 2018, when it was ordered to be remodeled. In the last 16 months, the Ministry of Health has postponed the opening of the care center four times,” says a report by the Pitazo.
#SepaQue El Hospital Dr. Leopoldo Manrique Terrero, popularmente conocido como el Periférico de Coche, cumplió este mes de mayo seis meses con sus puertas cerradas https://t.co/hJulWAxVdJ pic.twitter.com/DdtJXAzRe3
— Efecto Cocuyo (@EfectoCocuyo) May 16, 2019
The Ciudad Hospitalaria Dr. Enrique Tejera in Carabobo is another of the health centers included in the list. However, it is a hospital that has been forced to close its emergency units due to various infections and the spread of bacteria. In fact, in October 2019 alone, three out of four newborns who were in intensive care were killed due to contamination.
Mientras que Brasil, Colombia, Peru y Argentina confirman caso de Coronavirus, en Venezuela asi está el principal hospital Clínico del país: con desechos hospitalarios a pocos pasos de la emergencia y del economato del Centro de Salud, sin agua , con poca limpieza pic.twitter.com/16LsUWP7gB
— Beatriz Adrián (@Beadrian) March 6, 2020
In Venezuela, citizens are alert because the arrival of the virus would be catastrophic. The South American country has no supplies; the hospitals are in “intensive care,” and the prevention system is practically non-existent. The arrival of a case of coronavirus in Venezuela would be a real disaster.
According to the Health Ministry managed by the Nicolás Maduro regime, Venezuela activated the epidemiological surveillance system in ports and airports, following the recommendations of the World Health Organization (WHO). However, the Venezuelan Red Cross has already warned that the country is not prepared to fight the virus that is now terrorizing the world’s population.
Médicos por la Salud (Doctors for Health) released the numbers of its research on hospitals in Venezuela, highlighting the scarcity of water and electricity, as well as the services needed to attack any disease. Seventy percent of hospitals have water supply failures and only nine percent report having normal, consistent service, the report said.
According to Julio Castro, director of the network, only 30% of the doctors who are in emergency rooms in hospitals are specialists. According to the network’s survey, in 2019, there were 2,602 avoidable cardiovascular deaths. Besides this, there were system failures and a shortage of equipment, supplies, and medicines.
It is estimated that in Venezuelan hospital emergency rooms, a patient suffering from a heart attack may have to wait almost seven hours on average to get treated. Castro also said, “by now, we should have enough masks, but we don’t. We are not in a good place.”
We must recall the report of Michelle Bachelet, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, who also condemned the serious humanitarian crisis in the South American country.
“Diseases that were previously controlled and eradicated, including vaccine-preventable diseases such as measles and diphtheria, have reappeared,” he recalled.
Hospital Ruiz y Páez de Ciudad Bolívar. Las deplorables condiciones de la instalaciones. Este Hospital fue designado centinela si se presentan casos de Coronavirus. / Vídeo Dip. @LuisSilvaDip pic.twitter.com/rjcpJ2eHkF
— Watcher (@Watcher_Ven) March 9, 2020
AL Navío reported that the Venezuelan Society of Infectology maintains that the current health situation in Venezuela “puts the Venezuelan population in a particularly vulnerable position.”