Report N. 44 Health Monitor March 2021

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BOLETÍN MARCH 2

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«© Convite, A.C., [2021]. Reservados todos los derechos».

Este Boletín es parte del proyecto “Monitor de Salud”, desarrollado por Convite, A.C., y sus organizaciones aliadas. Su contenido es responsabilidad exclusiva de Convite, A.C.

FICHA TÉCNICA Proyecto

Convite: Monitor de Salud

Componente/ Actividad

MONITOREO DEL ÍNDICE DE ESCASEZ DE

Directora del proyecto

Francelia Ruíz

Coordinador de Contenido

Luis Francisco Cabezas

Título del Documento

BOLETÍN MENSUAL

Periodo

Marzo 2020

Edición

Francelia Ruiz

Investigación

Yanireth Fernández

Diagramación y diseño

Camilo Escobar , Catherine Guevara

Diseño muestral y procesamiento estadístico

Miguel Padrón

MEDICAMENTOS ESENCIALES

ORGANIZACIONES ALIADAS Y EQUIPOS DE LEVANTAMIENTO LOCALES Área Metropolitana de Caracas Convite

Maturín Organización Codehciu

ALEXANDER MONSALVE

MARIANGEL BALZA

SANDRA PEPE

LUIS VILLAFRANCA

DIEGO RAMÍREZ

LILIANNY GONZÁLEZ

Barquisimeto

SURIANNY CORASPE

Convite JOSÉ RAMÓN QUERO LISSETTY PÉREZ ISABEL BRAVO AQUILES QUERO CARMEN QUIÑONES Mérida

Organización Defensa en Acción

Organización Funcamama

ADRIANA PÉREZ PEDRO DÍAZ JESLIMAR JAGGERNAUTH GUSTAVO FLORES San Juan de Los Morros Organización Fundación Váyalo

Organización Kapé-Kapé

LUIS ALVARADO

RAIZA GUAIPO

JOSÉ GREGORIO ROMERO

MARY CARMEN SALAZAR

MARIANTONELIA CEDEÑO

CARLOS R TORRES RANIER RAFAEL RICCIARDI

Maracaibo Organización Mulier ESTEFANÍA MENDOZA MAYERLING GUERRERO

Valencia

Organización Crea País

Ciudad Bolívar

Organización Promedehum Puerto La Cruz

San Carlos

ALEXANDRA NAVA GAUDYS PÉREZ

JAVIER ARÉVALO Puerto Ordaz Organización Codehciu MAIRIS BALZA NORKIS SALAZAR ROXANA MATHEUS ALEJANDRO HERNANDEZ

San Fernando de Apure Convite

FUNCAMAMA YANIRA SUAREZ

Valera

WIECZA SANTOS

CARMEN BUENO

Centro de Animación Juvenil

PEDRO DE LA ROSA

ARACELYS COLMENAREZ

XIOMARA MONTILLA

LUIS RODRIGUEZ

San Felipe CONVITE ALISSON BRICEÑO JUAN SÁNCHEZ ZOBEIDA PIÑA

KIMBERLY MONTILLA OTILIA PAREDES FRANCISCO BRICEÑO

MIRIAM SOTO

ANÁLISIS E INTERPRETACIÓN DE LOS RESULTADOS AGREGADOS ÍNDICE DE ESCASEZ DE MEDICAMENTOS MARZO 2020 CHRONOLOGICAL DETAILS OF THE SURVEY Period and Frequency of Data Collection: The survey consisted of two measurements conducted on March 29 and March 30, 2021.

For further information on the technical data sheet of the survey and other methodological details, please refer to Newsletter No. 1, September 2017, available at : https://conviteblog.wordpress.com/2017/10/17/informes-de-septiembre-del-proyectomonitoreo-del-derecho-a-la-salud-en-venezuela/

MARCH 10: NATIONAL DOCTOR’S DAY Since 1955, National Doctors’ Day is celebrated on March 10 all across Venezuela. The commemoration is endorsed by the Venezuelan Medical Federation.

It honors the great work of the country’s health professionals and pays tribute to Dr. José María Vargas, an exemplary Venezuelan physician who was born on March 10, 1786.

However, Venezuela is one of the countries where all those who chose to commit themselves to the care, health and welfare of other people face the most daunting conditions when it comes to the exercise of their profession. The situation does not only affect physicians in general, but also the medical staff and the healthcare personnel, who must do their jobs without the minimum safety precautions.

Almost every day, reports are published in Venezuela’s digital media on the precarious state of hospitals and the outrageous conditions under which the health personnel works, which leads to non-compliance of minimum quality standards and, therefore, results in poor patient care. This is how bad access to healthcare for Venezuelans is.

The facilities are not subject to preventive or corrective maintenance. The supply of water is not continuous or regular. Some of the hospitals’ elevators are out of service, their corridors unsanitary, their bathrooms out of order, and their air conditioning systems damaged. They have contaminated areas, and some of their services and specialties are closed. There is a lack of medical supplies and materials, and the hospitals are understaffed.

This is how the country’s hospital and outpatient care network operate. It is a reflection of the protracted damage to the Venezuelan public health system. Allocation of resources to the healthcare system has been marginal, whereas investment in security and defense has been privileged, and that in a country that is not at war. The government frequently notes that the population is completely covered under the Barrio Adentro mission [a social welfare program that seeks to provide publicly funded healthcare to poor and marginalized communities], and makes announcements about resources being allocated to hospitals and outpatient clinics, but the truth MONITOR DE SALUD

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of the matter is that the public health system has not improved. On the contrary, it is progressively deteriorating.

Structural problems proliferate which have not been addressed in a timely manner. And specific, circumstantial problems are now so serious that they can no longer be considered temporary but permanent.

Not only has the system collapsed.

Meager wages and salaries have triggered a mass exodus of health

professionals: Venezuela’s doctors are the lowest paid in the region.

The country’s healthcare professionals have had to face the COVID-19 pandemic working in a system already broken by a complex humanitarian emergency that is into its fifth year now, with no strategies or resources.

Venezuela’s health workers must be in the front line, taking care of patients with inadequate or no biosafety gear and dealing with a generalized shortage of medical supplies, the politicization of the pandemic’s management and COVID-19 equipment and funds, and the opacity of the statistics provided by the government. Their situation is compounded by the lack of an effective prevention policy that has prompted the rapid collapse of the system.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has reiterated that governments have a legal and moral responsibility to guarantee the health, safety, and well-being of their health workers and provide them with safe working conditions and a fair remuneration, particularly in the COVID-19 world.

In March 2020, when the pandemic had only just set foot in Venezuela, the Pan American Health Organization [PAHO] claimed that Venezuela was one of the countries in the region with the poorest capabilities to address the COVID-19 crisis. One year later, the situation has not improved, to the extent that the PAHO itself has had to arrange for the purchase of antigen reagents and biosafety gear, and has played a role in the decentralization of laboratories to expedite diagnoses and the purchase of vaccines, thereby bolstering the health system and saving lives.

Despite efforts from and coordination among various sectors, the number of health workers infected by COVID-19 or killed by it has not dropped. The Venezuelan Academy of Physics, Mathematics and Natural Science’s report on the epidemiological status of COVID-19 in Venezuela, which was published last February 22, notes that the diagnostic capacity remains “centralized and limited”, with few operating laboratories processing a reduced number of PCR tests for the whole of the Venezuelan population. This results in unreliable infection records and makes the development and implementation of feasible strategies to keep the disease at bay and prevent more deaths unlikely.

The Médicos por la Salud [Doctors for Health] NGO has warned that the heath care personnel remains the primary victim of the pandemic because of persistent deficiencies in the supply of water and the lack of protective and hygiene supplies. The death toll of the country’s health staff is 33 percent of all COVID-19 deaths. Again, said deaths could have been prevented with adequate protective and biosecurity gear to avoid contagion, improvements to hospital infrastructure, and a better provision of medical supplies.

On February 9, 2020, the Medical Confederation of Latin America and the Caribbean [CONFEMEL] published the number of physicians killed by COVID-19 in other countries of the region. Mexico was at the top of the list with 1,151, followed by Brazil with 465, Peru with 306, and Bolivia with 241. It should be noted that, although Venezuela ranked fifth, with 218 deaths in the category, the number is lower than the one recorded by the Venezuelan Medical Federation (334). According to the CONFEMEL’s report, at the time Venezuela was not the country with the highest

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number of physician deaths in the region, but medical doctors had the highest coronavirus mortality rate in the country, i.e. 26.7 percent, while in the other countries aforementioned the rate was 0.6 percent, 0.2 percent, 0.7 1

percent, and 2.2 percent, respectively.

From June 16, 2020 until the end of March, the NGO Médicos Unidos Venezuela [Doctors United Venezuela] recorded the death of 424 health workers, with Zulia leading the list of states with the highest mortality rate, i.e. 80 deaths, followed by the Capital District with 58. The medical personnel has been the most affected, with 71.2 percent of the deaths, or 302 deaths, followed by the nursing staff, with 17.9 percent, or 76 deaths. With seven health workers dying on the average weekly in January, five in February, and fifteen in March, physicians in Venezuelan die from COVID-19 up to 27 times more frequently than in all of South America, according to a report published in 2

September 2020. On February 9, 2021, the PAHO epidemiological bulletin claimed that Venezuela had a fatality rate among health workers of 7.21 percent, the highest in 15 countries in the Americas.

But the situation, as depicted by the State, is completely different. When Nicolás Maduro submitted the 2020 Report and Accounts before the National Assembly, he stated that the 58 medical centers that had been fitted out to treat COVID-19 patients were fully operational and with no major issues. For the government, the people in the health sector who have died from the coronavirus are under-recorded, as if their lives and work mattered little or nothing.

Now, hopes are pinned on the arrival of vaccines and their adequate distribution under a comprehensive vaccination plan, based on principles such as equity and impartiality. Venezuelan scientist societies could not emphasize more on this, and that said plan should be public.

The National Academy of Medicine’s Bulletin No. 9, on vaccination in Venezuela, published on February 23, read that one of the key factors to come up with an effective vaccination strategy against COVID-19 is prioritization of application. It also placed emphasis on the importance that all health workers who are most exposed to infection be vaccinated, followed by the elderly and by people with chronic diseases.

In the meantime, José Félix Oletta, an internist and a former minister of Health, insisted to the team of the Cotejo.info news portal that, at least until the last week of February, the Venezuelan government had not published an official plan that would allow the country’s population to know about the COVID-19 immunization 3

program. Dr. Oletta also referred to the state of hospitals in the country, and warned that the situation could turn much worse in the upcoming waves of the virus until herd immunity can be achieved through vaccines.

On the other hand, Enrique López Loyo, who performs as president of the National Academy of Medicine, has pointed out that, as per the Academy’s studies, around 15 million people must be vaccinated in order to curtail circulation of the virus in the country.4

1. DUGARTE, María José (March 10, 2021). “354 médicos venezolanos murieron en un año: no hay nada que celebrar.” [No Reason for Celebration: Three Hundred Fifty-Four Venezuelan Doctors Dead in One Year]. Available at: https://elestimulo.com/354-medicos-venezolanos-murieron-en-un-ano-no-hay-nada-que-celebrar/

2. Available at: https://cotejo.info/2020/09/muertes-personal-medico-ong-medicos-unidos/

3. TORRES, Karla (March 8, 2021). “Capriles: “No tenemos idea de qué va a pasar con la vacunación”. [Capriles: We Have No Idea What Will Happen with the (COVID-19) Vaccination]. Available at: https://cotejo.info/2021/03/capriles-venezuela-plan-vacunacion/

4. GARCÍA, María Sofía (March 17, 2021). “Todavía se pueden presentar situaciones comprometidas en el país hasta lograr inmunidad de rebaño contra la COVID-19”. [The Situation Could Turn Much Worse Until Herd Immunity Can Be Achieved]. Available at: https://cronica.uno/todavia-se-pueden-presentar-situaciones-comprometidasen-el-pais-hasta-lograr-inmunidad-de-rebano-contra-la-covid-19/

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For their part, Mauro Zambrano, who is the executive secretary of the Federation of Health Workers, Gricelda 5

Sánchez, who performs as secretary of collective bargaining and claims of the Teachers’ Union, and people from the NGO Médicos Unidos Venezuela, have publicly stated, as representatives for the unions, that COVID-19 vaccination in Venezuela has been a selective, discriminatory process and one that has been managed with little transparency and under a politicized lens, particularly as regards the information provided by the State on an issue as important as this for the entire population.

5. ORDOÑEZ, Ivanna (March 9, 2021). “Para representantes sindicales de salud y educación las jornadas de vacunación son excluyentes e improvisadas.” [According to Representatives from Health and Education Unions, Vaccination Days Are Discriminatory and Improvised]. Available at: https://cronica.uno/para-representantessindicales-de-salud-y-educacion-las-jornadas-de-vacunacion-son-excluyentes-e-improvisadas/

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AGGREGATED RESULTS FOR THE MEDICINE SHORTAGE INDEX: MARCH, 2021

Behavior and Evolution of the Shortage Index at the National Level Seizures (58 percent), depression, and acute respiratory infections (both, 53 percent) remain the morbidity causes with the highest drug shortage rates at the national level. However, it should be noted

that, since February, there has been a decline in these indicators, as well as in those associated with the rest of the morbidities surveyed. The trend for March, as in the previous period, is downward, which means

that essential drugs to treat the six causes of morbidity included in the study are now less difficult to find.

Chart No. 1: Behavior of the Aggregate Medicine Shortage Index at the National Level. March 2021.

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BEHAVIOR OF THE MEDICINE SHORTAGE INDEX AT THE REGIONAL LEVEL

Chart No. 2: Behavior of the Medicine Shortage Index at the Regional Level. March 2021.

CITIES WITH THE WORST SUPPLY OF ESSENTIAL MEDICINES According to our survey, Puerto Ordaz, for the second consecutive month, was first in the list of cities with the worst supply of essential medicines. The city’s indicators by cause of morbidity range from 44 percent to 86 percent shortage. Depression, seizures, acute respiratory infections, diabetes, and diarrhea are the morbidities that patients have the most difficulty to treat with medication in Puerto Ordaz.

San Felipe ranked second, with shortage rates of between 54 percent and 77 percent. The Metropolitan Area of Caracas ranked third, followed by Maturín and, and last, San Fernando de Apure.

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PUERTO ORDAZ

Chart No. 3: Behavior of the Medicine Shortage Index by City. Puerto Ordaz. March 2021.

SAN FELIPE

Chart No. 4: Behavior of the Medicine Shortage Index by City. San Felipe. March 2021.

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METROPOLITAN AREA OF CARACAS

Chart No. 5: Behavior of the Medicine Shortage Index by City. MAC. March 2021.

MATURÍN

Chart No. 6: Behavior of the Medicine Shortage Index by City. Maturín. March 2021.

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SAN FERNANDO DE APURE

Chart No.7: Behavior of the Medicine Shortage Index by City. San Fernando. March 2021.

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CITIES WITH THE BEST SUPPLY OF ESSENTIAL MEDICINES In March, the cities of Valencia, Barquisimeto, Ciudad Bolívar, Maracaibo, San Carlos, Mérida, San Juan de Los Morros, and Valera were the best stocked with essential drugs. Their shortage indicators for the morbidity causes surveyed were below weighted averages at the national level. Nevertheless, the shortage indicators for medicines to treat depression and seizures are still high (above 40 percent).

VALENCIA

Chart No. 8: Behavior of the Medicine Shortage Index by City. Valencia. March 2021.

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BARQUISIMETO

Chart No. 9: Behavior of the Medicine Shortage Index by City. Barquisimeto. March 2021.

CIUDAD BOLÍVAR

Chart No. 10: Behavior of the Medicine Shortage Index by City. Ciudad Bolívar. March 2021.

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MARACAIBO

Chart No. 11: Behavior of the Medicine Shortage Index by City. Maracaibo. March 2021.

SAN CARLOS

Chart No. 12: Behavior of the Medicine Shortage Index by City. San Carlos. March 2021.

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MÉRIDA

Chart No. 13: Behavior of the Medicine Shortage Index by City. Mérida. March 2021.

SAN JUAN DE LOS MORROS

Chart No. 14: Behavior of the Medicine Shortage Index by City. San Juan de Los Morros. March 2021.

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VALERA

Chart No. 15: Behavior of the Medicine Shortage Index by City. Valera. March 2021.

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BEHAVIOR OF THE CONSUMER PRICE INDEX FOR ESSENTIAL MEDICINES These are the average consumer prices, as expressed in Venezuelan sovereign bolivares (VES), for the most common active ingredients prescribed in Venezuela to treat hypertension, type II diabetes, and depression and other personality disorders. The sample that we used for the purposes of monitoring price behavior comprised pharmacies and similar establishments located in Caracas, Mérida, San Fernando de Apure, and Maracaibo.

AVERAGE MONTHLY CONSUMER PRICE (VES) PER ACTIVE INGREDIENT. BOTTLE OF 30 TABLETS.

Table 1. Average Monthly Consumer Price (in VES) by Active Ingredient. March 2021.

CONSUMER PRICE. BOTTLE WITH 30 TABLETS

Chart No. 16: Consumer Price. Bottle with 30 Tablets. November 2020 - March 2021.

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According to the Venezuelan Finance Observatory, inflation in the health sector was 36.3 percent, the highest recorded so far this year.

6

On the other hand, based on the survey conducted by Convite, A. C.,

prices dropped considerably as compared against the figures logged for the month of February. The fact that representatives from the government inspected a number of national pharmacy chains to check on prices may explain this decline.

Regardless, although these variations in price may bring some relief, an essential drugs basket priced at USD 289.00, a historical maximum in March that only buys medicines for a family of five, is not. And, unfortunately, no amount of control or oversight can change that fact. People need food and medicines to live, and they will not be able to afford them if their income does not increase. Such an improvement calls for the design and implementation of effective, fair, sustainable economic policies, without ideological bias.

6. See https://observatoriodefinanzas.com/

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MARCH 2021

VENEZUELA

National

On the Ocassion of International Women’s Day According to the Femicide Monitor of the NGO Center for Justice and Peace (CEPAZ)

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Every 27 hours

there was a femicide in Venezuela.

45.5 percent of women

lived or had lived with their aggressors.

36.3 percent of victims

were between 28 and 48 years of age,

and 13.6

percent were between 68 and 80 years of age.

40.9 percent of the aggressors are on the run.

In an overwhelming 94.4 percent of all femicide cases, victims had failed to file a complaint before the fact.

Eighteen of the femicides recorded were perpetrated from January 1 to January 31, 2021, at a rate of one femicide every 38 hours. In February, 22 femicides were reported, which means, on average, one murder every 27 hours.

Sara Fernandez, from CEPAZ, noted that confinement (lockdown) due to the COVID-19 pandemic has played a role in the increase of gender violence and femicide cases.

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Alarming Official Figures

There have been 610 femicides in the country since August 2017, according to records.

One hundred and four (104) femicides were reported from April 2020 to August 2020.

Justice Carmen Zuleta, from the Constitutional Chamber of the Supreme Court of Justice, pointed out that there has been an increase in the rate of femicides in the country during the COVID-19 pandemic. On the other hand, Attorney General Tarek William Saab stated that his office is keeping a record of the crimes as of August 2017.

7. See https://cepaz.org/documentos_informes/monitoreo-de-femicidios-febrero-2021/

8. GÓMEZ, Sarahí (March 8, 2021). “Femicidios en Venezuela, la deuda del Estado en el Día de la Mujer.” [Femicides in Venezuela. The State´s Debt on Women´s Day]. Available at: https://eldiario.com/2021/03/08/femicidios-venezuela-deuda-estado-dia-mujer/

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Feminist Women in Venezuela Mobilized and Demanded: • • • • • •

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An end to macho violence in Venezuela An end to femicide and harassment Guarantee of all women’s rights Sexual education to decide Access to contraceptives Legal, safe, and free abortion.

Like National Doctors’ Day, Women’s Day is a global celebration of women’s struggles and achievements in terms of the exercise of their rights. It is a day to raise voices louder, make an impact, and take further steps towards social, political, economic, and cultural accomplishments, as well as advances in other fields. It is a day to consolidate women’s presence in civic spaces through organization and networking. It is also a day to raise awareness on what should not happen and demand that what should happen happens, and women can enjoy a dignified and fulfilled life in a world where all their rights are guaranteed, and where gender approach is no cause for discomfort in some sectors. A world where equity, respect, and humanity prevail.

Health in the Regions

LARA 10 Women’s Medical Check-Ups, Unaffordable Women in Lara can expect to be charged from USD 40.00 to USD 60.00 for a medical check-up. Additionally, they must spend at least USD 15.00 in contraceptives or else visit an outpatient clinic to have their contraceptive injected every month. Because of the country’s crisis, a visit to the gynecologist for health and sexual control has become a rare event in the state, and not what is should be: a regular once-a-year appointment.

At present, a visit to the gynecologist, which only includes a Pap smear test and an ultrasound, is USD 30.00. But if a colposcopy for further visualization of the uterus, the vagina, and the vulva is in order, it will add up to USD 40.00. Also, feminine hygiene products, particularly those recommended to treat vaginal infections, are marked at prices that range from VES 9,500,000.00 to VES 28,000,000.00; vaginal ointments and creams can be found at between VES 3,900,000.00 and VES 13,000,000,000.00. Soaps for feminine hygiene have become so expensive that few women can afford to buy them and, as a result, they are no longer in shortage.

In this regard, Convite A.C., has taken a step forward, within the framework of its Health Monitor project, to provide female health services to older women in the state of Lara.

9.

CASTILLO, Raúl (March 8, 2021). “Las reivindicaciones del 8M: la oleada feminista que resonó en Caracas.” [The Demands of 8/3: The Feminist Wave that Echoed in

Caracas]. Available at: https://eldiario.com/2021/03/08/reivindicaciones-dia-de-la-mujer-feminista-resono-caracas/

10. EL NACIONAL (March 6, 2021). “Entre 40 y 60 dólares: lo que pagan las mujeres en Lara por control médico.” [Between USD 40.00 and USD 60.00: What Women in Lara Pay for a Medical Check-up.]. Available at: https://www.elnacional.com/venezuela/entre-40-y-60-dolares-lo-que-pagan-las-mujeres-en-lara-por-control-medico/

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CARABOBO

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No Reason for Celebration for Medical Personnel in Carabobo

Obstetrician and gynecologist Jorge Pérez, who is also a representative from the Carabobo chapter of Doctors United Venezuela, maintains that there is no reason to celebrate National Doctor’s Day this year. Medical professionals in the state of Carabobo must struggle to survive with low salaries while providing their services in public health facilities where medicines and supplies are nowhere to be found.

Dr. Perez stated that a Specialist II, meaning a medical professional with 20-year experience since graduation and working in a public hospital with five 24-hour shifts per month, earns a monthly salary of USD 13.00. In his opinion, the situation has forced a significant number of doctors to quit their jobs in pursuit of a better future in other countries, thereby leaving many healthcare facilities understaffed.

In an interview for the El Carabobeño web site, he also noted that, in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, there are major deficiencies in the provision and supply of protective equipment for frontline health workers who treat infected people. He claims that, at the date of publication of the interview, there were two OB/GYN specialist in serious condition in the COVID-19 area of the Doctor Enrique Tejera Hospital City.

The supplies and medicines they use to provide patients with care come from contributions made and arranged by their peers, because, unfortunately, there are no medicines or sufficient medical supplies at the health center in question.

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Displaced Chronically Ill Persons. COVID-19 Patients, a Priority

People with chronic diseases such as diabetes, hypertension, and cerebrovascular accidents who had been confined in the Dr. Manuel Núñez Tovar University Hospital, located in Maturín, were transferred to other health care centers, in a move aimed at strengthening care for COVID-19 patients in the Monagas sentinel center.

The hospital’s deputy director, José Sequea, noted that they were compelled to clear the hospital to give priority to the people affected by the coronavirus. Sequea is temporarily in charge of the hospital, given that its incumbent director, Darwin Moreno, was one of the many people infected with the disease.

Originally, the Autonomous Traumatology Service of the State of Monagas (SATRAMO) was the main facility where people with COVID-19 were taken for confinement. By orders of the National Executive, the service was reactivated to address the increase in the number of COVID-19 related respiratory disease cases. At present, both the service and the hospital facilities are reserved for people with COVID-19 only. According to Mr. Sequea, SATRAMO treats

11.

SARMIENTO, Mabel (11 de febrero de 2021). Desmantelaron el Centro Clínico de Inmunología y Reumatología de San Bernardino. Disponible en: https://cronica.uno/

desmantelaron-el-centro-clinico-de-inmunologia-y-reumatologia/

12.

REDACCIÓN EFECTO COCUYO (11 de marzo de 2021). Sacan del hospital de Maturín a pacientes crónicos para atender casos de COVID-19. Disponible en: https://

efectococuyo.com/salud/sacan-del-hospital-de-maturin-a-pacientes-cronicos-para-atender-casos-de-covid-19/

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a daily average of 80 people with mild respiratory symptoms. Therefore, he called upon the population to stay home and comply with the biosecurity measures in place to avoid catching the virus.

Situations such as Maturín’s put people with chronic morbidities at risk, for they have been left somehow in the lurch, given that they have had to interrupt medical treatment and follow-up in the healthcare centers where they are regularly treated.

GUÁRICO

Abandonment and Malnutrition in a Home for the Elderly

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In the Francisco Lazo Martí nursing home, in San Juan de los Morros, there are approximately 30 elderly people who have allegedly been abandoned and are malnourished, as claimed by political and social activist Anderson Tovar in his Instagram account @tovaroscio.

In a telephone interview with the El Pitazo digital outlet, Tovar stated that the director of the geriatric home in San Juan de los Morros, Maydelis Coronado, was urged to allow the visit of an independent medical board to evaluate the health condition of its residents. According to Tovar, they are not receiving adequate, age-tailored food and, therefore, they are having their rights to food, health, and life breached.

However, the regional authorities questioned the information published by the activist on the current conditions of the senior citizens affected, and said that they had set up a team with staff from the Ombudsman’s Office, the Secretariat of Social Development and other public institutions, to inspect the nursing home and listen to the version of the people who spend the night there.

In the opinion of the officials, the facilities of the Lazo Marti nursing home are in “excellent working conditions and operational, and the elderly there receive the necessary care.”

MARACAIBO

Chronic Disease Patiantes in a Permanent State of Anxiety

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Lack of drinking water, transportation, elevators, fuel, and health personnel keep patients who go to the Maracaibo University Hospital [HUM] for medical care, especially those with non-communicable or chronic diseases, in a permanent state of uncertainty regarding the continuity of their treatments.

Renal patients have been the most affected. José Luis Tello, a spokesperson for the HUM renal patients, told Crónica Uno that they receive treatment in precarious conditions. The supply of water is intermittent, and they must deal with limited care because there are not enough nurses. Additionally, they must climb up to nine floors to get to the dialysis unit because the elevators are out of order.

13. EFECTO COCUYO (March 11, 2021). “Sacan del hospital de Maturín a pacientes crónicos para atender casos de COVID-19.” [Chronic Patients Are Transferred Out

of the Maturin Hospital to Treat COVID-19 Cases.] Available at: https://efectococuyo.com/salud/sacan-del-hospital-de-maturin-a-pacientes-cronicos-paraatender-casos-de-covid-19/

14. NAVA, Mariela (March 17, 2021). “Pacientes renales de Maracaibo se las ven negras por falta de transporte y máquinas dializadoras.” [Renal Patients in Maracaibo

Struggling For Lack of Transportation and Dialysis Machines]. Available at: https://cronica.uno/pacientes-renales-de-maracaibo-se-las-ven-negras-por-falta-detransporte-y-maquinas-dializadoras/

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In 2019, there were two dialysis units at the HUM with more than 30 dialysis machines. Lack of proper maintenance forced the hospital management officials to close the smaller unit, leaving only one unit to treat all patients. On March 15, reports circulated of a ‘graveyard’ of more than 10 damaged machines stacked up in a room on the hospital’s ninth floor.

As for the Centro de Diagnóstico de Occidente [CDO], the second most important in the city of Maracaibo after the HUM, it had 32 machines in 2019. But now only 12 are operational to treat more than 80 patients in two shifts, three times a week. Unfortunately, patients treatment is contingent upon the Office of the Mayor of Maracaibo’s sending water cistern trucks to the center.

Unofficial figures provided by users of both centers show that people are dying from renal failure there, and that is an uncontestable truth. So far this year, four patients have died at the HUM, and one at the CDO. These deaths could have been prevented. People have been complaining for years now, and yet chronic diseases patients remain invisible, defenseless, and with their right to access to health utterly violated.

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MARCH 2020 #THE COMMUNITY-BASED SOCIAL ORGANIZATIONS AND THEIR CONTRIBUTION Doctors United For the Right to Health and Life...

Médicos Unidos Venezuela [Doctors United Venezuela] is a civil association established in the city of Barquisimeto in 2016. Concerned about the devastating effects of the political, social, and economic crisis that was taking a turn for the worse, becoming an unprecedented humanitarian emergency, a diverse group of medical specialists from different regions of the country decided to take a step forward and go from being mere spectators to raising their voices in dissent. They decided to denounce, raise awareness, and propose alternative solutions to help mitigate the damage inflicted upon the population by the constant violation of their rights to life and health by the main responsible therefor: the Venezuelan State.

Ever since its inception, Doctors United Venezuela has not ceased in its efforts to address the serious health crisis facing the country, doing its part in spaces were the fight for human rights, freedom and democracy for the country is actually waged. Doctors United Venezuela has proposed a number of projects to rebuild the Venezuelan health system and has lent its support, along with many organizations, in collecting reliable data on the social and epidemiological problems afflicting the Venezuelan population.

Since the COVID-19 pandemic hit the country, Doctors United Venezuela has played an active and leading role by monitoring the disease’s behavior and impact, particularly in the health sector. Thanks to the information provided by the organization, which has added several chapters all across the country, people know what is happening in the nation’s hospitals and what is going on with their medical and health staff, the most affected over the last 12 months of the pandemic.

Doctors United Venezuela is constantly denouncing the ordeals that the medical and nursing staff and health workers in general, who are at the front line and risk their lives to bring care to patients, must endure. If it were not for its rigorous monitoring work, we would not know the number of people in the health sector who are suffering first-hand the precariousness of the system, or the sad death toll from COVID-19. These deaths seem to be of little importance to the State, for it rarely accounts therefor in official reports. A policy of information opacity continues to prevail in Venezuela, and citizens have no choice but to rely on unofficial statistics or reports from the academia, scientific societies, trade associations or unions, and non-governmental organizations, among others.

Fortunately, Venezuela can count on valuable people who are willing to continue working in the construction of a new country, where rights are rights and not privileges for small groups. These valuable people are among us and beyond our borders, for Doctors United Venezuela has chapters in Colombia, Peru, Chile, Spain, the Netherlands, France, Switzerland, Canada, Panama, Argentina, Uruguay, and the United States of America.

For more information on this Venezuelan civil association, please click on https://twitter.com/MedicosUnidosVe

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