By Yesenia Garcia.
The Antonio Patricio Alcala Hospital in the city of Cumana, Sucre state in Venezuela, does not have blood for transfusions, so family members must buy it from private health centers at some $150 per blood bag, according to a complaint filed by hospital workers.
“I want to make a serious denouncement. We do not have how to take care of an acute hemorrhage in accidents or oncology because we do not have the reagent for the tests that detect if the blood is compatible or has some virus. So, the relatives must buy the blood in private centers that cost $150 (a bag),” detailed the union’s spokesperson, Dr. Vitelio Patiño.
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Patiño pointed out that a simple operation requires two blood bags while other ops, on higher-risk patients, need up to five blood bags. He said that the families of patients who do not have the money, unfortunately, die from cardiorespiratory arrest.
“Patients admitted with strokes are already labeled as dead because they do not have the resources to acquire the blood. Instead of spending money on construction work, the government should acquire the reagent to guarantee the lives of these people,” the doctor warned.
The guild organizer also pointed out the shortcomings of other hospitals, which are lacking x-ray machines, labs and have water only five hours a day. “The authorities should stop wasting the money and spend it on something as fundamental for the people as health care,” Patiño demanded.
