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C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 04 CARACAS 001541 
 
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E.O. 12958: DECL: 2019/12/08 
TAGS: ECON PGOV ELAB HURI VE
SUBJECT: VENEZUELA'S MEDICAL SYSTEM IN DISARRAY AS GBRV SHIFTS 
RESOURCES TO BARRIO ADENTRO 
 
REF: CARACAS 1374 
 
CLASSIFIED BY: DUDDY, AMBASSADOR, DOS, AMB; REASON: 1.4(B), (D) 
 
¶1. (C)  SUMMARY: Venezuelan doctors have accused the Venezuelan 
Government (GBRV) of politicizing health care at the expense of the 
health of Venezuelans.  In recent months, protests have paralyzed 
hospitals across Venezuela as doctors and patients have complained 
of shortages of medical supplies, delays in hospital renovations 
and unpaid wages and benefits.  Observers describe public hospitals 
as increasingly dangerous places where underpaid, undersupplied, 
and understaffed doctors struggle to provide medical services to 
Venezuela's poor.  Critics say that the GBRV has created a parallel 
medical system-Barrio Adentro-that has sucked resources away from 
the traditional hospital network and reduced the overall quality of 
medical services.  The GBRV has suspended doctors for speaking out 
about the crisis while giving former military officers and 
community councils a greater role in hospital administration.  On 
November 29, President Chavez announced plans to eliminate a 
government health care benefit that pays for public workers to 
receive health care at private clinics, a move that would place 
even greater strain on already overburdened public hospitals.  END 
SUMMARY. 
 
 
 
HOSPTIAL CRISIS SPREADS ACROSS THE COUNTRY 
 
 
 
¶2. (SBU)  In recent months, newspapers across Venezuela have 
carried daily reports of a growing crisis in the public hospitals: 
On November 30, Valenica's Notitarde published reports of a vigil 
by patients and doctors to protest shortages of medicines and 
supplies at the Enrique Tejera Hospital; On December 1, Ciudad 
Guayana's Correo del Caroni covered the "technical closure" of the 
Negra Hipolita Maternity Ward after the breakdown of the air 
conditioning system raised concerns that the heat would increase 
bacteria levels in the incubators for newborn babies; and on 
December 4, El Universal reported that doctors in Merida had shut 
down the University Hospital of Los Andes (HULA) due to medical 
supply shortages, pronouncing the hospital "dead." 
 
 
 
DOCTORS PROTEST DETERIORATION OF PUBLIC HOSPITALS 
 
 
 
¶3. (SBU)  On November 18, in a development representative of the 
breakdown of public hospitals across the country, the Jesus Yerena 
de Lidice Hospital shut down after 140 physicians announced their 
mass resignation.  Lidice is one of the two largest and most 
important public hospitals in the impoverished Catia municipality 
of Caracas: it serves a poor and isolated community that otherwise 
has little access to health care. 
 
 
 
¶4. (SBU)  For over three months, Lidice's patients and doctors have 
protested shortages of medical supplies, delays in the renovation 
of hospital wards, and unpaid wages and benefits.  But the conflict 
escalated on November 16, when the Health Ministry suspended four 
of Lidice's doctors after charging them with inciting protests 
among the patients.  Lidice's doctors resigned en masse after the 
Health Ministry refused to reinstate the four suspended doctors and 
resume negotiations over salary payments and benefits owed since 
¶2007.  The resignations paralyzed Lidice, leaving only two 
doctors-an internal specialist and a surgeon-to care for the 
remaining patients. 
 
 
 
¶5. (SBU)  Although Lidice reopened on November 20, after the Health 
and Labor Ministry agreed to reinstate the four suspended 
physicians and resume negotiations over other demands, the 
emergency pediatrics unit and maternity ward remain closed for 
 
CARACAS 00001541  002 OF 004 
 
 
renovation.  The maternity ward of the Lidice hospital-considered 
the second most important in Caracas for many years-has now been 
closed for two years, while Catia's other major public hospital, 
Los Magallanes Jose Gregorio Hernandez, has been partially closed 
for over a year while awaiting renovation. 
 
 
 
PUBLIC HOSPITALS ARE DANGEROUS, UNDERSUPPLIED, AND UNDERSTAFFED 
 
 
 
¶6. (C)  During a November 10 meeting, Beatriz Cruz (protect 
throughout), a health reporter for the El Universal newspaper, 
described the public hospitals as increasingly dangerous places, 
where underpaid, undersupplied, and understaffed doctors work in 
unsanitary conditions to provide medical services to Venezuela's 
poor.  Due to shortages of basic medical supplies, doctors ask 
patients to purchase their own needles, disinfectants and gauze. 
Cruz told EmbOffs that doctors sometimes dress wounds with the same 
dirty bandages.  Other patients are told to bring their own X-Rays 
from private clinics.  As in many areas of Caracas, public 
hospitals suffer from water shortages, forcing doctors to postpone 
important operations.  In some of the older public hospitals, the 
plumbing systems cannot pump water above the first few floors of 
the building. 
 
 
 
¶7. (C)  Cruz estimated that medical residents in public hospitals 
make an average of 2,000 bolivars (Bs) per month (USD 930 at the 
official rate of 2.15 Bs to the dollar).  According to Cruz, over 
fifty percent of the resident doctors move to the capital from 
other parts of the country, and their salary is barely enough to 
cover rent in Caracas, where an austere apartment in a dangerous 
neighborhood can easily cost 1,800 bolivars per month. 
Consequently, many doctors have left the public hospitals in search 
of other jobs, while some of the most qualified have left the 
country to earn better salaries abroad.  In a December 4 press 
report, the Venezuelan Medical Federation (FMV) estimated that the 
public hospitals are understaffed by 43 percent. 
 
 
 
¶8. (C)  Crime has further contributed to the flight of doctors from 
the public sector: Cruz said that criminals go to the public 
hospitals to rob, steal, and even kill patients.  The emergency 
room in Hospital Vargas is only open for twelve hours-between seven 
in the morning and seven at night-because of security concerns.  In 
October, a shootout in the emergency room of the Los Magallanes de 
Catia hospital killed two people.  Although the Ministry of Health 
has promised to send more guards to protect the hospitals, in many 
cases the additional security has not arrived. 
 
 
 
SEE NO EVIL, HEAR NO EVIL, SPEAK NO EVIL 
 
 
 
¶9. (C)  On November 17, Cruz told EconOff that the GBRV has 
suspended doctors to discourage them from speaking out about the 
health care crisis.  Last year four doctors were suspended when 
they exposed the accidental death of six babies in a maternity 
ward, she said.  According to Cruz, the GBRV has limited the role 
of the resident doctors in hospital management and transferred 
authority to local community councils.  Cruz said that community 
council members meet with hospital directors to discuss renovation 
proposals.  On November 10, the director for the Vargas Hospital of 
Caracas, Francisco Hernandez, told the press that he had to present 
the hospital's renovation proposals to the community councils 
before sending them to the Health Ministry and President Chavez for 
approval. 
 
CARACAS 00001541  003 OF 004 
 
 
BARRIO ADENTRO DRAINS RESOURCES FROM PUBLIC HOSPITAL 
 
 
 
¶10. (C)  Cruz told EmbOffs that the quality of health care in the 
public hospitals has deteriorated as the GBRV has redirected 
resources to Barrio Adentro, a program supported by the Cuban 
Government that provides free medical services in poor areas 
(reftel).  Although Barrio Adentro has translated into political 
gains for President Chavez, its medical impact is questionable, 
despite having received massive government investment (Note: The 
GBRV spent approximately USD 5.6 billion on Cuban medical 
assistance, training, medicines, vaccines, and other services in 
2008, according to one estimate.  See reftel for further analysis 
of Barrio Adentro.  End Note.).  While Chavez has acknowledged a 
"crisis" in Barrio Adentro and announced a sweeping campaign to 
revitalize the program, neither President Chavez nor his ministers 
have publicly recognized the deterioration of the public hospitals, 
or announced new plans for additional investment. 
 
 
 
¶11. (C)  On October 5, the President of the Venezuelan Medical 
Federation (FMV) Douglas Leon Natera (protect throughout) told 
EmbOffs that the health care problem is primarily political. 
According to Natera, the GBRV has focused resources on the 
development of a parallel medical system-Barrio Adentro-that has 
sucked investment away from the hospitals and the traditional 
medical infrastructure, to the detriment of the health of 
Venezuelans.  At the same time, the GBRV has appointed military 
professionals with no medical background to important positions in 
the Ministry of Health.  Natera said that there is "anarchy" in the 
Ministry of Health, pointing out that the GBRV has released health 
statistics just four times in the last 14 months.  FMV Vice 
President Daniela Parra (protect) added that vaccination rates have 
decreased dramatically over the past several years. 
 
 
 
¶12. (C)  While the GBRV has prioritized Barrio Adentro over the 
traditional medical system, Venezuelans seem to prefer public 
hospitals or private clinics.  On October 9, Jorge Diaz Polanco 
(protect throughout), a researcher for the Center for Development 
Studies (CENDES), told EmbOffs that the majority of Venezuelans 
continue to receive medical care in public hospitals or private 
clinics rather than Barrio Adentro.  Polanco cited a 2006 study by 
a team of European Union analysts that measured the use of health 
services by sector (i.e. public hospitals, private clinics, or 
Barrio Adentro) and found that poorer Venezuelans were more likely 
to receive medical care in public hospitals than Barrio Adentro. 
 
 
 
CHAVEZ THREATENS TO ELIMINATE PRIVATE HEALTH INSURANCE BENEFIT 
 
 
 
¶13. (SBU)  On November 29, in a move that further illustrated GBRV 
efforts to strengthen Barrio Adentro as an alternative to the 
traditional medical system, Chavez announced his intention to 
eliminate the hospitalization, surgery, and maternity (HCM) benefit 
that public sector employees use to pay for health care at private 
clinics.  In a broadcast of the "Hello, President" radio and 
television program, Chavez said that the HCM benefit supported the 
"bourgeoisie" owners of private clinics and that public employees 
should instead use Barrio Adentro's network of Integral Diagnostic 
Centers (CDI).  In press reports the following day, public 
employees in the petroleum, iron, steel, and aluminum sectors 
protested the announcement (Note: According to one press report, 
sixty percent of the 12 million Venezuelans with health insurance 
work in the public sector. End Note.).  Critics pointed out that 
the private clinics offer medical services that Barrio Adentro does 
not provide, and that the public hospitals do not have the capacity 
to absorb a massive influx of new patients from the private 
 
CARACAS 00001541  004 OF 004 
 
 
clinics. 
 
 
 
COMMENT 
 
 
 
¶14. (C)  The quality of health care in Venezuela has declined as 
the GBRV has shifted resources from the traditional medical system 
to Barrio Adentro.  Resource-starved public hospitals are beginning 
to show the effects of years of neglect.  Mismanagement has 
increased as military officers and community council members-often 
with little previous experience in health care-have assumed a 
greater role in the administration of public hospitals.  At the 
same time, the hospitals suffer from the same problems that plague 
the rest of Venezuelan society, including the deterioration of 
infrastructure, an increase in crime, and the flight of the 
professional class.  Despite these issues, President Chavez and 
other members of his cabinet have not publicly acknowledged the 
deterioration of the public hospitals or announced any new plans to 
revitalize them.  To the extent that President Chavez has 
acknowledged Venezuela's health care crisis, the GBRV has looked to 
Barrio Adentro-and not the public hospitals-as the solution. 
 
 
 
¶15. (C)  Meanwhile, Barrio Adentro has not proven to be a viable 
substitute for the public hospitals, despite massive GBRV attention 
and investment.  Indeed, the evidence suggests that all classes of 
Venezuelans continue to prefer public hospitals to Barrio Adentro, 
even as the quality of medical services in the former has 
deteriorated.  The popular preference for public hospitals means 
that the traditional medical system must treat a growing number of 
patients with dwindling resources, a problem that will only 
intensify if the GBRV decides to eliminate the health care benefit 
for public employees, forcing them out of the private clinics and 
into the public hospitals. 
DUDDY