New York Times: Dying Infants and No Medicine: Inside Venezuela’s Failing Hospitals
BARCELONA, Venezuela — By morning, three newborns were already dead.
The day had begun with the usual hazards: chronic shortages of antibiotics, intravenous solutions, even food. Then a blackout swept over the city, shutting down the respirators in the maternity ward.
Doctors kept ailing infants alive by pumping air into their lungs by hand for hours. By nightfall, four more newborns had died.
“The death of a baby is our daily bread,” said Dr. Osleidy Camejo, a surgeon in the nation’s capital, Caracas, referring to the toll from Venezuela’s collapsing hospitals.
The economic crisis in this country has exploded into a public health emergency, claiming the lives of untold numbers of Venezuelans. It is just part of a larger unravelling here that has become so severe it has prompted President Nicolás Maduro to impose a state of emergency and has raised fears of a government collapse.
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WNU Editor: This story reminds me of what the state of the Soviet Union's medical system was like before everything fell apart. The failure of the public health system .... coupled with workers striking .... is what eventually brought down the Communist government. I mentioned in a post a month or two ago that Venezuela has seen nothing yet on how bad the situation can become .... for those who are sick they are seeing it up close right now, and for everyone else a daily grind of trying to make ends meet and a growing realization that things are going to get worse. My prediction .... riots this summer .... and labour strikes.
Update #1: This is not going to help .... Venezuela says better oil loans deal reached with China (Reuters) .... more so because the Chinese are saying something else .... Asked about aid, China says Venezuela crisis is domestic matter (Reuters). This tells me that even the Chinese are seeing the writing on the wall.
Update #2: When a government ignores the will of the people, you are asking for trouble .... Venezuela's President Maduro 'won't face recall referendum' (BBC).
2 comments:
Maybe Maduro will see Hugo revisit him as a "little birdie" and this crisis will pass!
Maybe Maduro point to endure until next election, but I don't see him to have the strength to reach so long.
The progress in medical healthcare with great reduction of infant and malnutrition mortality was one of the best result during Chavez government. If even this fall, the government also, unless some external aid will come or the oil prices war end.
But in three years no one of the countries with Chavez made strong ties (and helped) can give a little material sign of solidarity (except Cuba and other international comrades). Maduro (and not only him) lack even in foreign policy.
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