VENEZUELA-HEALTH/SHORTAGES Cancer, transplant patients protest Venezuela medicine shortage

Record ID: 142256

  • Title: VENEZUELA-HEALTH/SHORTAGES Cancer, transplant patients protest Venezuela medicine shortage
  • Date: 27th August 2015
  • Summary: CARACAS, VENEZUELA (AUGUST 27, 2015) (REUTERS) A MAN HOLDING A SIGN READING (IN SPANISH): "FULL TREATMENT NOW" A SIGN READING (IN SPANISH): "WE ARE SURVIVING WITHOUT MEDICINES" VARIOUS OF PEOPLE PROTESTING HOLDING SIGNS (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) ACTIVIST FOR BREAST CANCER, LUISA RODRIGUEZ, SAYING: "Women do not die from breast cancer, they die from not having the right diagnosis, the right treatment, because nobody else is in pain, because in the eyes of health officials the six women who die daily, and the 1600 who die yearly, are not Venezuelan." A SIGN LISTING THE MEDICINES WHICH ARE IN SHORTAGE PEOPLE PROTESTING HOLDING SIGNS (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) TRANSPLANT RECIPIENT, FRANCISCO VALENCIA, SAYING: "There are thousands of people here that have cancer, people with haemophilia, people with transplants. Medicines are scarce and without them there could be irreversible consequences. They are playing with the lives of the people affected. If a transplant recipient does not have the correct medicine, the body could reject the organ, someone with haemophilia who does not receive adequate treatment could suffer haemorrhages with irreversible consequences and someone with cancer who does not receive ongoing treatment could develop metastasis which could complicated their health and affect their quality of life."
  • Embargoed: 11th September 2015 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVA1VIZRFRVCIZINT9H1SUX128XR
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: Venezuelans with breast cancer, hemophilia or transplants protested on Thursday (August 27) in front of a social security branch, the latest demonstration to demand urgent medicines in the shortages-hit country.
    Currency controls, slumping domestic production and cross-border smuggling have slashed medical supplies in socialist-led Venezuela. With an estimated seven in 10 drugs currently unavailable, rights groups are warning the situation is increasingly untenable.
    Around 230 breast cancer patients are currently unable to undergo surgery due to lack of blood, said Luisa Rodriguez, the president of breast cancer group FUNCAMAMA.
    Protesters warned that these could see their tumor double in 100 days if treatment is not given adequately.
    "Women do not die from breast cancer, they die from not having the right diagnosis, the right treatment, because nobody else is in pain, because in the eyes of health officials the six women who die daily, and the 1600 who die yearly, are not Venezuelan," said Rodriguez.
    President Nicolas Maduro has framed shortages as part of an "economic war" led by businessmen whom he accuses of hoarding and contrabanding goods. Authorities did not respond to requests for comment about Thursday's protest.
    After his predecessor Hugo Chavez harnessed an oil boom to build free clinics in the OPEC country's slums, problems like maternal mortality decreased.
    But the government has stopped publishing many health indicators since shortages worsened. Now, hospitals are overloaded, doctors have left the public sector or the country, and items including thermometers and catheters are scarce.
    Around 13,000 people with chronic issues are at risk of severe harm due to missing chemotherapies and critical medicines including those to prevent transplants being rejected, according to Francisco Valencia, organizer CodeVida, an umbrella health group.
    "There are thousands of people here that have cancer, people with haemophilia, people with transplants. Medicines are scarce and without them there could be irreversible consequences. They are playing with the lives of the people affected. If a transplant recipient does not have the correct medicine, the body could reject the organ, someone with haemophilia who does not receive adequate treatment could suffer haemorrhages with irreversible consequences and someone with cancer who does not receive ongoing treatment could develop metastasis which could complicated their health and affect their quality of life," said Valencia.
    Earlier this month, children suffering from cancer also protested in front of a Caracas hospital over delays or intermittent supply of chemotherapy.
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