Speaking of, face, she has a 69-year-old father. Her thin, weak and trembling body is almost disappearing beneath a thick mass of blankets. “It’s so cool,” she says, without stopping to blow her hair, barely coming in front of us. “They gave him a treat and he said it was too cold,” he added, referring to the IV drops he gave.
Although his immune system is compromised, medical staff say he shares the ward with patients with so many infectious diseases that, in most countries, they are isolated from the rest. Out of them, the medical staff tells us, Kovid-19 is a patient.
It is the dangerous overlap of these diseases imposed on its citizens by the poor Venezuelan state, the global health crisis, that has largely stalled the world.
Most of the country’s hospitals and clinics have seen a sharp drop in government funding and are on the verge of collapse, showing the strong will of healthcare workers who are showing up. “There’s nothing in this hospital, not even scrubs,” a senior medical worker who, like many others in the story, spoke to us on condition of anonymity for fear of government retaliation, tells us. “That’s our calling gender and we want to do a good job, but we have to pay less … we have to cut our own way.”
Nurses like her typically earn about dollars 3 a month in Venezuela, the unions have told us. The support staff and doctors here make about $ 1 and $ 5, respectively, they also told us.
The odor of the disinfectant is significantly absent here – there is no one left – and at the end of the ward, the unit looks like it will no longer be used, with two dead rats lying on the floor. They say they have been there for many days. A study of Venezuela’s once-famous hospitals is no secret to the state, and with coronavirus spreading across the country, many patients are choosing to face a domestic epidemic, fearing that the chances of surviving the virus are worse within facilities, healthcare workers say.
Government strategy
The dictatorial regime has responded to the virus with inflammation, issued strict precautionary measures and quarantined potential patients and motels for weeks on Covid-19 suspected patients.
Ric Ric operating in one of these government-run facilities. Richard Rodriguez tells CNN, “We know that (motels) are probably not the best condition, these are not five star hotels, but at least they have a doctor, a nurse, emergency staff who are available to attend when needed . “
Under the watchful eye of a government thinker, Rodriguez adds that “Venezuela has strong immunity to the virus.” He vows he has never seen a shortage of medical supplies or protective equipment. “We got all the supplies and equipment we needed,” he concludes.
But that’s far from what many health workers at Vargas and other hospitals tell CNN. Most medical personnel with whom we disagree with government reassurances about their healthcare system’s ability to handle epidemics – and are skeptical of official statistics on epidemic disease in Venezuela.
Experts say inadequate testing, and overuse of rapid antibody testing can lead to serious deaths and cases, which are considered less reliable than the PCR tests recommended by the WHO.
CNN reached out to the Venezuelan government for comment on the situation in these hospitals in Caracas and the criticism made by healthcare professionals, but received no response.
Fearless physicians
Venezuelan doctors, academics and journalists have been targeted for criticizing the government for its response to the epidemic, with many facing alleged criminal charges for spreading false information.
A doctor from Caracas, Dr. Gustavo Villasmel has told CNN he has been forced to stop talking about the government’s epidemic response – but that will not stop him from speaking. We found him at Caracas University Hospital, just outside his office fees, near the parking lot, where he quickly directed us to another area, across the street, away from convenience and near the university campus.
“I was warned that the ‘Collectivos’ would be around today,” he said, referring to pro-government paramilitary groups that have played a growing role in keeping Maduro in power.
Villasmill says unhealthy healthcare conditions are common in Venezuela. “Last year, no hospital in Venezuela had running water 7 days a week, 24 hours a day,” he tells us, citing a survey of healthcare facilities in Venezuela. “You can cut out how the surgical area or emergency area or intensive care area is operated where service is required.”
Since testing is limited to only three government-controlled labs, he added that it is impossible to assess whether Venezuela has successfully dealt with the virus. “We don’t know where we are in terms of Covid,” he says. “In Venezuela, there are a number of valid Covid cases at the behest of the regime.”
His views are shared by many doctors, nurses and medical staff interviewed by CNN in Caracas, including an infectious disease specialist and professor at the Institute of Tropical Medicine at Venezuela’s Central University. Advises coronavirus and government officials.
Castro says what has happened inside hospital wards across the country does not support the coronavirus case number released by the government. “You’ll see the official numbers, they’re coming down very fast,” he says, while in hospitals, doctors report seeing exactly the opposite. “In the last three weeks, we’ve seen an increase in the number of cases in the emergency room.”
Lack of testing and delayed results complicate matters, he added. “We currently have one patient in the ICU, who has been admitted for seven days and until yesterday we did not have PCR confirmation,” says Castro. “The average in Caracas right now (wait for PCR test results) is close to a week or 10 days.”
Employees at Vargas Hospital Spital told CNN they had to fight for teeth and nails for every piece of equipment, most of which they had to buy themselves. “I’ve been wearing this mask for about five days,” one nurse told us, as she made an elastic adjustment to one side. “They don’t mean to protect us, they don’t give us gloves, they don’t give us masks,” she said, adding that she showed us the hand sanitizer bottle she had with her and what she had to buy. Themselves.
And they have paid a heavy price. More than 270 health care workers in Venezuela have died from Covid-19, according to Medicos Unidos de Venezuela, an NGO that supports doctors and other healthcare workers, accounting for a third of the Venezuelan government’s aid. The percentage is much higher than in the region and the rest of the world – as many Venezuelans question the government.
At another hospital in Los Magellanis, which serves the poorest people in the capital Caracas, the dead have also been captured downstairs. Most of the wards here are now empty, their doors are closed, and electricity and water have been cut off. In the morgue, there is only one loud working freezer and the electricity comes and goes. The stench is unbearable. The smell of decaying body pierces through our masks. The staff here tells us that there is no pathologist in the hospital, and the use of dry blood stains and space marking the walls appears scattered across the two autopsy tables.
Many of the deaths that end here are diagnosed without ever being diagnosed.
The medical worker showing us through the desolate rooms says he has been working here for more than a decade and has never seen hospital conditions get this bad. He said the constitution clearly states that the government guarantees health, safety and revenge for all Venezuelans.
“They keep saying it’s all good but it’s wrong.”
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