‘The right to health care is guaranteed in the Venezuelan Constitution, which was written and ratified by the people in 1999. Through implementing a state-funded social program called Barrio Adentro, or inside the barrio, free comprehensive health care is available to all Venezuelans.’ See A Look at the Venezuelan Healthcare System
But funding to give medical care to the poor is something that burns upper Middle Class American and Venezuelan doctors off. They hate it! here from Lancet, the English speaking world’s most important medical magazine we can read this…
***Olga Machado de Castillo, a member of the board of directors and secretary of labour relations in the Venezuelan Medical Federation, a staunch opposition group to Chavez, believes the neglected public hospitals have worsened under the current government. The presence of Cuban doctors in the country, she says, forms part of an active discrimination campaign against Venezuelan health professionals. She calls the arrival of Cuban doctors “an invasion”.
“One of the problems in the country is the presence of supposed Cuban doctors. We have determined through studies that only one in every ten of these doctors is really qualified to be practising in medicine while the others are simple technicians”, said Castillo.
The Federation refuses to acknowledge any advancements or improvements in health under Chavez; it also claims preventable diseases are on the rise, and diseases that had been eradicated in the past have returned once again. The government denies these allegations, saying that reports of tuberculosis and dengue fever outbreaks are media-provoked slander. They also defend Barrio Adentro saying no Venezuelan doctors would do the work of the Cuban medics in impoverished and violent city slums.
But the equipment, personnel, and propaganda that has been used in Chavez’s social missions has come at a steep financial cost, and has left the staff of the country’s long-established public hospitals asking about their share of the money.***
The Venezuelans medical establishment has fought giving access to poor Venezuelans all the way! For these suited upper Middle Class types of doctors, it is a lot easier to make money treating wealthier clients with next to no real medical problems than to actually treat really sick ordinary working people who have limited funds to pay for their care. See Lancet’s complete article for all of their report.. Venezuela: Two competing health care systems
The article in Lancet is from 2007, but the medical establishment of Venezuela largely fought Chavez all the way, and many of them have become major supporters of the political opposition against the reformer, Chavez, and his reforms. They will tell you that the current Venezuelan medical system is now a disaster. Yes, In a way they are right, because it is a disaster for them! …though not for Venezuela’s poor.
So Are Venezuelans better off under Chavez? ___Yes, of course they are, if you are from a poorer barrio and trying to get medical care for yourself or your kids. That’s because Venezuelans have access to medical care now, while in the US we don’t.
