Gone with chavismo! Barquisimeto’s oncology service in total abandonment
According to estimates from the Lara State Social Security Workers’ Union, the Autonomous Oncology Service (SAO) of the “Antonio María Pineda Central University” hospital in Barquisimeto is approximately 90% inoperative.
By Lapatilla Correspondent
The SAO was created in 2007 with the purpose of being a pilot oncology center to care for patients with cancer in the Lara State region and the rest of the Central West of the country, but its operability had been decreasing over the years to the point of reaching to a technical standstill.
This first-line oncology patient care center used to care for 145 patients daily and currently only cares for 12 once a week.
Gone with chavismo! Barquisimeto’s oncology service in total abandonment
Alberto Domínguez, representative of the Social Security Workers’ Union in Lara, denounced the existence of completely looted high-tech equipment, unusable electronic plants, linear accelerators out of service, damaged air conditioners and some areas with sewage collapse.
Mr. Domínguez mentioned that the current Regional Director of Healthcare of the regime, Javier Cabrera, had announced the approval of resources from the Ministry of Health for the recovery of SAO, but so far they are still waiting for the investment.
For his part, Dr. Ruy Medina, former regional healthcare director of Lara, recalled that in 2018 the first failures in the air conditioning system began to happen, an essential resource for the conservation of equipment, as well as failures in one of the linear accelerators that was reported at the time but no corrective actions were taken by the governor at that time, Carmen Meléndez.
Cancer patients bear the brunt
Gone with chavismo! Barquisimeto’s oncology service in total abandonment
Cancer patients in the Lara region are the main victims thanks to Chavista apathy and the lack of investment and preventive maintenance by those who hold power in this entity, condemning them to death for not having a public healthcare center where they can receive their treatments for free.
Faced with this bleak outlook, those who have the possibilities or rely on organizations or foundations must shell out nearly 3,000 dollars for radiotherapy sessions, otherwise they could die during the bitter wait to obtain a place in the SAO.
Gone with chavismo! Barquisimeto’s oncology service in total abandonment