Healthcare in Venezuela

$1.2 billion were designated to the construction of new facilities to combat bed shortages, with a main focus on establishing clinics in order to avoid the inefficiency of larger hospitals.

The rehabilitation of handicapped individuals and a focus on addressing heart disease (the leading cause of death in Venezuela) were also highlighted in the Sixth National Plan.

[4][5] Venezuela's reliance on imported goods and its complicated exchange rates (initiated by Hugo Chávez) led to increasing shortages during the late-2000s and into the 2010s that affected the availability of medicines and medical equipment in the country.

In August 2001, President Hugo Chávez announced a national campaign to fight the dengue fever epidemic that had infected 24,000 and killed four.

[8] Venezuelans also stated that due to shortages of medicines, it was hard to find acetaminophen to help alleviate the newly introduced chikungunya virus, a potentially lethal mosquito-borne disease.

saying that 9 of 10 large hospitals had only 7% of required supplies and private doctors reporting numbers of patients that are "impossible" to count dying from easily treated illnesses due to the "downward sliding economy" in 2014.

[14][failed verification] Many Venezuelans died avoidable deaths with medical professionals having scarce resources and using methods that were replaced decades ago.

[16] In March 2014, the executive director of the Venezuelan Association of Hospitals and Clinics explained how in less than a month, shortages of 53 medical products rose to 109 and explained how the CADIVI system is to blame since 86% of supplies are imported[17] with private sector hospitals claiming they owe suppliers billions of dollars in order to pay their debts.

[5] In May 2015, the Venezuelan Medical Federation said that 15,000 doctors had left the public health care system due to drug and equipment shortages and poor pay.

In August 2015 the Human Rights Watch said, “We have rarely seen access to essential medicines deteriorate as quickly as it has in Venezuela except in war zones.” By the end of 2015, the Bolivarian government reported that of all Venezuelans visiting public hospitals that year, one in three patients died.

[21] In April 2017 Venezuela's health ministry reported that maternal mortality jumped by 65% in 2016 and that the number of infant deaths rose by 30%.

[citation needed] In March 2019, The Wall Street Journal reported that the "collapse of Venezuela's health system, once one of the best in Latin America, has led to a surge in infant and maternal mortality rates and a return of rare diseases that were considered all but eradicated.

In March 2019, Red Cross officials was reported that the "collapse" of the health system had caused the return of old and eradicated rare diseases like yellow fever, dengue, malaria, and tuberculosis, as well as a large increase in infant and maternal mortality rates.

[28] The April 2019 HRW/Johns Hopkins report showed this rise in infectious and preventable diseases, as well as increasing malnutrition, infant and maternal death, and undertreatment of HIV.

[29] Inflation and medicine shortages have meant that patients are asked to bring their own food, water and soap, and medical supplies including scalpels and syringes.