Venezuela: Health Crisis Declared Due to Shortage in Medicine

Government officials have declared a human health crisis in Venezuela because of shortages of medicines and medical equipment. The congress, controlled mostly by the opposition, has also pointed out the poor quality of public health institutions.

The lawmakers discussed the situation during the presentation of the president of Venezuelan Pharmaceutical Federation (Fefarven), Freddy Ceballos, of the different challenges in the distribution channel of almost 80 percent of medications across the country, according to Latino Fox News.

"We are witnessing a human crisis, patients are dying for lack of medication," Ceballos told EFE. It was also "very difficult" to keep records of patients affected by diseases that appeared recently, such as Zika, he added. Ceballos noted the lack of epidemiological bulletin, a report that Congress should reinstate.

Ceballos has predicted a worsening of the situation and asked the World Health Organization and other international bodies to intervene.

Although Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro recently promised "13 engines" to mobilize the economy in the country, he did not include any healthcare issue n his agenda, Ceballos said. The government has not come up with any solution to the pressing issue.

Shortages of medications to treat high blood pressure, convulsions, cancer as well as antibiotics and contraceptives are allegedly created by currency controls according to Ceballos. More so the production of these medications need raw materials that require huge dollar investments, Ceballos said.

The legislation has reserved the authority to buy and sell hard currencies for the government since 2003. After which, the currencies are distributed to businesses often through complex procedures.

Ceballos called for the government to implement "realistic and binding" agreements for the distribution of hard currency to manufacturers and importers of pharmaceutical products.

He emphasized that domestic production should precede over imports since a dollar in Venezuela has five times more return. As an example, the Fefarven president noted immunoglobulin used for the treatment of Guillain-Barre syndrome. He said that this medicine can be manufactured in the country but instead it is imported from other countries.

International Business Times has already reported the healthcare crisis in Venezuela August of last year. A demonstration took place in front of Jose Manuel de Los Rios hospital in Carcas, Venezuela middle of last year. Children and teenagers wearing face masks, hunching over in wheelchairs gathered with their parents in front of the hospital, asking for help.

The Venezuelan pre-eminent medical center for children was running out of drugs. Their supply of 19 different chemotherapy medicines had been used up, leaving several young cancer patients untreated for more than two weeks.

The problems extend far beyond cancer patients. Around 70 percent of medicines in Venezuela including ibuprofen, treatments for hypertension and birth control had been in short supply since last year according to Fefarven.

This may unfold to a full-scale humanitarian crisis if no solution could be made.

Check out the video report on Venezuelan's health system crisis last year: