An ongoing economic crisis has much worse consequences for the health of the Venezuelan people than it does for their wallets.
According to HospiMedica, due to the sweeping corruption and ensuing chaos facing Venezuela, a medical crisis is occurring with no end in sight.
Sky News covertly filmed three Venezuelan hospitals to document the horrible conditions patients are being treated in, the overall state of the healthcare — or lake thereof — and the deteriorating health of everyone in the country. Once the most affluent area in Latin America, Venezuela now has virtually no medical supplies and no clean water or air conditioning. Worst of all, dead bodies line the hospital corridors because morgues are completely full.
“People are dying because we cannot treat them,” said Gabriel Romero, MD., and oncology consultant. “There is nothing I can do for them. We don’t get the medicine we need and even if there was a supply they don’t ask us what we want. This populist government says it is here to favor the poor, it is a complete lie.”
Although Venezuela has one of the largest oil reserves in the world, the entire country is on the brink of a social and financial collapse.
UPI reports that President Nicolas Maduro is attempting to address the dire issue and plans to expand a welfare healthcare program to all of Venezuela by the beginning of 2017.
“We have made great progress in caring for children, youths and the population in general, but we could still do more,” Maduro said. “This program should be implemented as a prioritized policy to guarantee better quality of life for all Venezuelans.”
As of 2010, in the U.S., approximately 12 million people received medical care from over 33,000 providers. In Venezuela, some patients do not even have access to an IV bag.
“For lack of something as simple as an IV bag,” said Janeth Márquez, director of Caritas Venezuela, “people can die.”
Both Venezuelan medical professionals as well as its residents are hopeful for a change but realize the situation has been constructed because of all the corruption.
“After spending and looting, this government has destroyed the country and it is drowning in misery and desolation,” Romero added.