Crisis in Venezuelan hospitals: More work for mothers with hospitalized children

Their children suffer from serious diseases and they have to compensate for the shortcomings of the health system VenezuelaAcceptance of limited liability From dispensing medicines to cleaning their children’s hospital rooms. These are some of the situations that mothers of hospitalized children have to face. JM de los Rios HospitalIn CaracasThis exposes the lack of investment in public health by the government Nicolás Maduro.

The humanitarian crisis in Venezuela is worsening over time. People, a sink Widespread poverty, reducing their consumption of food and medicine to the bare minimum necessary for survival, as well as forcing them to depend on the public health system to take care of their health needs. However, persistent shortages and lack of investment limited the ability to meet the needs of the population, with shortages of supplies, understaffing and limited operational efficiency of laboratory and X-ray services.

This situation has had a severe impact on the lives of women, girls, boys and adolescents; Above all, if minors have to face difficult diseases like leukemia, thalassemia, nephritic conditions, chronic malnutrition, according to a report Prepare the NGO family He had access Infobay.

This study quantifies the difficulties faced by mothers admitted to the Children’s Hospital at the JM de los Rios Hospital, a public health center specializing in pediatrics.

According to the data collected, 84 percent of the wards of this institution do not have nursing assistants to care for patients. In fact, only 8 percent of the total sample had more than two nurses per shift. In 50% cases there are two nurses per shift 42% are single. Similar levels were recorded in the presence of cleaning staff as 43% of the rooms did not have workers to undertake these tasks.

As a result, these tasks fall on mothers of hospitalized children. In that regard, the report revealed that in 97% of cases mothers are responsible for changing the bed, while in 99% of cases they are the ones who keep the clean sheets. Also, they should be responsible for meeting the children’s physiological needs 95% of the time.

JM de los Rios Hospital is understaffed Gentlemen should be in charge of cleaning rooms and bathrooms..

However, not only do they try to humanize the conditions in which their children are hospitalized, but they also have to assume the role of controlling and monitoring the children’s own health status. Even when they are within a public health institution, it should be responsible for their care.

According to the collected data, these women are dedicated to controlling their children’s temperature in 79% of cases, as well as in 41% of cases, if the children need it, they are responsible for the investigation.

The demands placed on them have led them to devote themselves full-time to this work, forcing them to leave paid employment, leaving them in a vulnerable and impoverished situation. Some of them are self-employed from time to time to earn an income that allows them to meet the many needs of their children.

As the money they can get is very less, they have to ask for family help, donations, bonuses or favors. Only 2% of mothers can use their savings to cover their expenses.

That is the case of a 55-year-old woman named Belkis, the adoptive mother of a child named Josue, who suffers from kidney failure. “I had to give up everything for my baby. This cost me my job. They pressured me at the Domingo Luciani hospital and told me that I can’t ask for so many leaves and rest, but I can’t leave the baby alone. Now I’m retired and not working. I can’t work. . Sometimes I sell sweets, cakes, but I have no income. However, I have no regrets: I wake up every day for Jose,” she revealed during data collection.

The health system does not guarantee minimum sanitary conditions in places where children receive treatment, but Only 1 in 10 minors receive all their medication from a hospital. In this way, their mothers are forced to find a way to earn extra income or take care of them completely.

According to statistics, in only 12 percent of cases the hospital takes over the entire treatment, while in 16 percent of cases the responsibility falls on mothers and families. In 72% of cases, the families have to fill the hospital-supplied medicines.Your children can access holistic treatment.

The economic need is even greater when babies need diapers, as in 62% of cases women have to provide them for their babies. 36% comes from donations and only 2% is cared for by the hospital. The same thing happens to 12-year-old girls who are admitted to the hospital and need sanitary pads, all of which are provided by their mothers.

A lack of investment in the health system forces them to buy food for their children to eat, further adding to the economic pressures that fall on these women. According to the survey conducted, in 53 cases mothers had to buy their own food.

Consequently, they considered three main needs imperative to cover, firstly, economic resources; Second, access to medicines depends on the treatment of their children; And, finally, food.

These data show the health crisis in Venezuela, driven by scarcity and lack of investment, which is softened by the work carried out every day by mothers, who have to give up their lives to compensate for the shortcomings of the Venezuelan health system.