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As Venezuela's Healthcare Collapses, Pregnant Women, Girls Bear Brunt of
Crisis

Reuters

   BOGOTA - In Caracas's main maternity hospital the blood banks and
   medicine cabinets are empty, the power and water regularly cut out --
   and women and girls are dying needlessly, according to one of the few
   remaining doctors, Luisangela Correa.

   The surgeon is one of only three left at the Concepcion Palacios
   hospital in the Venezuelan capital, where the lifts and most toilets
   are closed and there are no bandages, sterilizers or X-ray services.

   "We are like trapped, kept hostage by this situation ... hope is what
   keeps us here," Correa, 45, told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.

   "If we haven't left the hospital, it's because we hope that things will
   improve."

   One in four have left

   Millions of Venezuelans have fled the country to escape an economic and
   political crisis that has left about seven million -- one in four -- in
   need of humanitarian aid, according to the United Nations.

   Its human rights chief Michelle Bachelet said last week after a
   three-day mission in March to the troubled South American country that
   Venezuela's healthcare sector was in "critical condition."

   A lack of basic medicine and equipment was "causing preventable
   deaths," she said -- something Correa is witnessing at first hand.

   Infection rates at the maternity hospital are high because cleaners do
   not have disinfectants to wash away bacteria and there are no
   sterilizers for doctors to clean their equipment, she said.

   "Currently, maternity is a risk for Venezuelan women, as it is for
   babies ... many give birth at home, in the street," Correa said.

   "And there are no blood banks. Any complications from heavy bleeding is
   a very big risk of death for a patient."

   Correa, the U.N. and women's rights groups all said unsanitary hospital
   conditions along with food and medical shortages had led to a rise in
   maternal mortality rates.

   U.N. findings disputed

   The Venezuelan government disputed the findings of the U.N. report and
   said in a written response that maternal mortality rates had decreased
   by nearly 14% between 2016 and 2018.

   Venezuela's national healthcare system, once considered a model for
   Latin America, is now plagued by shortages of imported drugs and
   thousands of doctors and nurses no longer show up for work, their
   salaries ravaged by inflation.

   Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has said there is little need for
   humanitarian aid, blaming U.S. sanctions for the oil-rich country's
   economic problems.

   The United States imposed tough sanctions on Venezuela's oil industry
   in January in an effort to oust Maduro in favor of opposition leader
   Juan Guaido, who is recognized as Venezuela's rightful leader by more
   than 50 governments.