A citizen of Caracas, identified as Luis Ortega Sala, denounced last Thursday, October 9, a hospital reality through a video posted on social networksdefying the consequences he might face for exposing the collapse of the Venezuelan health system.
In the material he relates that his mother, a public officialis hospitalized at the Dr. Miguel Pérez Carreño Hospital with a severe brain aneurysm. This case quickly went viral, becoming a symbol of the humanitarian crisis that the country is going through.
“I am going to make this video with all possible risk, knowing that it may bring legal consequences, knowing what repression is like in Venezuela. when a citizen dares to denounce something about the reality we live“Ortega Sala began in his testimony.
The reason for the complaint It is the reality of the hospital who, he maintains, lacks the necessary supplies for his mother’s neurosurgery. For his operation, valued at more than $5,000, the medical center He gave him an unfathomable list of requirements for a low-income family.
The list, which he displayed on camera, included everything from specialized equipment for a craniotomy to basic details such as “black bags for garbage” and “mineral water for doctors.”
Luis Ortega Sala questioned the paradox that consumes public health: “How is it possible that commercial houses, which are private companies, Do they have all the equipment and all the supplies that hospitals don’t have? “Are you going to tell me that a private person has more money than the Venezuelan State?”
“What would you do in a situation like mine, where I have nothing to sell? The only thing I have is the house, and we are left on the street… a small sum of 400 dollars, where do I get that amount, where do my brother and I get that amount?” he insisted.
Seeking government help
In the middle of the story, he highlighted what has been an odyssey when seeking institutional support. The man tried to get help from more than 10 government agenciesamong them Miraflores (Presidency), the Bank of Venezuela, the Mayor’s Office of Caracas, Banmujer and various foundations and ministries (Commerce, PDVSA, Tves, VTV). He even went to the Municipal Council of Caracas, where his mother is a public official.
Although her mother is a civil servant, she assures that the State is “denying the right to life, the right to health.” He added that his plea in Miraflores to the “Pueblo Soberano” Foundation was rejected.
“They told me no, that the amount is too high, as if the government had no money. As if all the corrupt people had stolen all the money from PDVSA. This is a pinch, this is a crumb, like the one they have always given to Venezuelans, the crumbs, while they eat the pieces of bread,” the man concluded.
