Hospitalized children depend to a greater extent on milk formulas for their food, especially in those under one year of age whose cause of admission to health centers is due to diarrhea, respiratory diseases and malnutrition. Although the international recommendation is exclusive breastfeeding, at least until six months of age, this policy is not followed in hospitals either.
Food services in hospitals, despite remaining open in most health centers, do not provide an adequate diet or do not have the necessary supplies for it, according to the latest report from the National Hospital Survey (ENH), published this Thursday, August 4.
According to the monitoring of the ENH, in 50% of the pediatric services they do not have milk formulas and in 25% the provision made is intermittent. This indicator has not changed in the last four years of reporting.
“This leaves the families of hospitalized children in a precarious situation, who must find a way to feed their children during the hospitalization process, with the logistical and monetary considerations that this implies,” they point out.
Hospitalized children depend to a greater extent on milk formulas for their food, especially in those under one year of age whose cause of admission to health centers is due to diarrhea, respiratory diseases and malnutrition.
Although the international recommendation is exclusive breastfeeding, at least until six months of age, this policy is not followed in hospitals either. The Survey highlights that there are no dedicated breastfeeding services, suitable places for breastfeeding or a systematic support policy for mothers.
Precisely in the world week of breastfeeding, which began on August 1, it was reported the technical closure of the Mi Gota de Leche program that worked in the spaces of the JM de los Ríos children’s hospital, northwest of Caracas, due to the decrease in personnel ordered by the Ministry of Health. Members of the National Assembly elected in 2020 promised to investigate.
Poor diet in adults
Only in 19% of the health centers monitored by the National Hospital Survey do patients receive food according to medical indications, due to the shortage of diet products, the lack of qualified personnel and the interruptions of basic services such as water and electricity.
The ENH found that a good part of the food received by patients is supplied by relatives, without further indications of what these special diets should be like.
Between 2018 and 2022, the services have been “open” between 83% and 95%, but only 65% of them deliver meals three times a day, which implies that only between 10 and 12% of patients receive diet under appropriate indications as part of the therapeutic scheme.
Only between 10 and 12% of patients receive a diet under the appropriate indications as part of the therapeutic scheme#ENH22 pic.twitter.com/VeDIJmwhhK
– Doctors for Health (@medicosxlasalud) August 4, 2022
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