- Jaime Lorenzo, national executive director of Médicos Unidos de Venezuela, warned about the need to have water and products that allow sanitizing medical facilities and equipment to treat patients | Photo: EFE
The national executive director of the non-governmental organization (NGO) Médicos Unidos de Venezuela, Jaime Lorenzo, denounced that the lack of water and its quality are affecting the sterilization of surgical teams in hospitals and outpatient clinics in the country.
He mentioned that this is a situation that could have consequences on the health of patients, as the essential function of the sterilization departments is compromised.
“The sterilization system of a hospital is based on two main principles: the first principle is that all instruments must be washed with water and special solutions to do a first cleaning, then these equipment are placed in systems that work with water vapor. and atmospheric pressure,” Lorenzo explained in an interview with Radio Fe y Alegría News. He added the importance of applying a significant level of heat so that adequate sterilization of the materials that will be used on patients can be achieved.
In addition, he mentioned that in a hospital, under normal conditions, the floors must be cleaned four or five times a day to keep the facilities disinfected.
“(To do this), water is needed, plus the necessary products to guarantee not only the entrainment that occurs, such as germs or microorganisms (…) If the water does not arrive 24 hours a day and 365 days a year, the cleaning and cleanliness of our health facilities, hospitals or outpatient clinics is questioned,” he said.
The collapse of public services in Venezuelan hospitals
On September 9, the National Hospital Survey (ENH), carried out by the NGO Doctors for Health, revealed that in July 57% of Venezuela’s hospitals did not guarantee permanent water service.
In that sense, the organization specified that the drinking water service was intermittent. In addition, they indicated that in most of the healthcare centers they received water through cisterns.
Regarding the electricity service, the survey specified that only 86% of the monitored hospitals reported that their power plants worked adequately, an indicator that, according to the organization, must have 100% effectiveness, especially in a context in which power failures have been recorded, at least once a week.
At least 43% of hospitals reported power failures during July, of which 16% said their power went out every day. 75% mentioned that the power went out at least 3 days a week.
Hospitals affected after the August 2024 blackout
On August 30, a blackout was recorded in 18 states of Venezuela, which affected a significant number of patients in the country’s hospitals.
According to the Venezuelan National Academy of Medicine, more than 50% of the country’s hospitals did not have power plants, since they were out of service.
The director of the National Academy of Medicine, Dr. Humiades Urbina, reported that between 30 and 40 hospitals in the interior of the country did not have a power plant, which made it difficult to provide emergency and intensive care services.
Urbina warned that throughout Venezuela the majority of patients depend on electrical energy, which generates anxiety and concern in those who face different pathologies.
Other failures in hospitals in Venezuela
For several years, organizations and patients have denounced the conditions of the country’s public health. From failures in public services, such as closure of areas, are some of the complaints from those affected.
On October 14, the professor of the Cardiology department at the Central University of Venezuela (UCV). José Ramón Gómez, denounced in an interview with Radio Fe y Alegría that not all hospitals in the country offer thrombolytic treatment for patients suffering from thrombosis.
“There are no official statistics in the annual morbidity and mortality bulletin. We know that the heart continues to be the leading cause of death as an ischemic disease and that thrombotic disease at the central level also continues to be one of the leading causes of death,” he said.
The ENH revealed on June 28 that 75% of tomography and resonance services in Venezuela were closed, a situation that has been evident since 2015. While on April 3 it reported that the capacity to operate in the country was reduced by 60% in 2023.
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