23 Venezuelans out of 162 who are temporarily housed at the High School 7 in Santiago, Chile, awaiting for a humanitarian flight back home are, positive for COVID-19 told El Pitazo Francis Teran, president of the Association of Venezuelan Nurses in Chile. She said that none of her compatriots are receiving the medical treatment needed to overcome the disease.
“They also have the right to health. At least to the necessary shelters where they can comply with the quarantine to avoid further spreading of the disease,” she demanded. Teran also explained that on Monday, June 1, she received confirmation of the illness in 23 Venezuelans who had been tested by the Municipality of Providencia.
However, she fears that the number of people with COVID-19 in that shelter could be much higher, since she, along with nurses from the association, attended on Saturday, May 30, to 54 fellow countrymen, of whom 38 had symptoms of the new coronavirus, including children and adults.
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They notified this situation to the Municipality of Providencia. The local government’s response that they don´t have ambulances for mobilizing the patients, but they said they had informed Chile’s Ministry of Health of the case.
She also told of a 26-year-old man who had been with fever and general discomfort, so they requested preventive isolation while waiting for the results of the COVID-19 test. Finally, the young man has transferred to the Hospital del Salvador.
One of the Venezuelans waiting to be flown back from Chile, a 40-year-old Venezuelan, staying at the Arturo Alessandri Palma School, died on Monday, June 1. The man died of a heart attack, waiting for the result of the PCR test. There are another 155 Venezuelans at that shelter, waiting to be allowed to travel back to Venezuela.
They have nothing
Fearing the spread of the disease, Francis Teran asked the Chilean Ministry of Health to immediately carry out the PCR test on all Venezuelans in the High School 7. She also asked to isolate and provide patients and staff with the protective gear needed, as well as basic personal hygiene items.
“They don’t have anything. Neither toilet paper nor soap. No one from the Ministry of Health has been there,” says Teran, who added that the medicines to relieve the symptoms have been donated by people or provided by the Association of Venezuelan Nurses in Chile. They have not received support from the Venezuelan Embassy in Chile either.
She also informed that this Tuesday, June 2, Chilean health personnel went to the Arturo Alessandri Palma School to perform PCR tests on the Venezuelans who are there. “A fellow countryman had to die for them to mobilize,” said Teran.
For more than a month, nearly 600 Venezuelans have been waiting for a response from the Venezuelan Embassy in Chile to return to the country on humanitarian flights.
