An Argentine, identified as Alejandro Benítez, died in Bolivia following suffering an accident with his motorcycle and not receiving the necessary medical attention due to the requirement of health personnel to pay in advance with Bolivian pesos instead of Argentine pesos. “It felt like they let him die; They did nothing”, commented the friend who was traveling with him.
The event took place last Thursday, July 7, when the teacher from Salta and retired Alejandro Benítez was hit by a truck in a curve between the route that joins Santa Cruz de la Sierra and Cochabamba. The Argentine was traveling through Bolivia and was traveling by motorcycle. THE NATION he consulted the Bolivian embassy in Argentina and they commented that they were not aware of the matter.
Friends traveling with him reported that was taken to an emergency room thanks to an ambulance that happened by “chance” by the place of the accident. But once there the health personnel demanded that he pay 1000 Bolivian pesos to be treated in an emergency room and transferred to a more complex hospital.
“It felt like they let him die; They did nothing. They charged us for everything. I feel very helpless because my friend might have been saved”, expressed Emanuel Suares Reynaga, one of Alejandro’s companions during his trip, in dialogue with chain 3.
He recounted the refusal of the room to accept the Argentine money despite the seriousness of his friend’s injuries. “I told him to tell me where to change, because we weren’t from here and he told me ‘in this town they won’t change your money”, he narrated, adding: “I told him (the doctor) that my friend was dying and he told me ”no, no, your money is useless’.
Desperate, Emanuel was willing to hand over his motorcycle and all his belongings to attend to Alejandro. “I told him that I would leave him all my money, that he might take my motorcycle if he wanted, and only then did they loosen up, but an hour and a half had passed since my partner was dying because they had no medication, they had nothing, they all said that we buy from him,” he said.
The fact ended with the death of the Argentine in the living room. The family had to raise $1,500 to remove his body.hire a legal doctor, pay for transportation, medical supplies and arrive in Argentina.