The impact of COVID-19 on health in the Táchira state, goes beyond the figures of infected or recovered; of the deficient hospital endowment or the efforts made by those who administer the public health system to provide a response to those who seek care.
The restrictive measures applied to avoid contagion, have an impact on other sectors of daily life, especially in the economic sphere, where one of the main affected is the private health system, which since the application of border closures as part of the measures preventive to stop the advance of the pandemic, it suffers from the absence of Colombian patients, who had become part of its central operating structure.
The costs that are competitive for Colombians become prohibitive for the common Venezuelan; A specialist consultation, with a value of 50 thousand pesos, represents 3 million bolivars, which is equivalent to 7.5 minimum wages, updated to May 2020.
Luz Dary, a patient who required urgent surgical attention for appendicitis, went this week to the emergency of a private health center, and after the intervention, she realized with surprise that she was the only patient seen in the clinic throughout the entire year. time she was hospitalized.
Porfirio Parada, director of the Táchira State College of Physicians and a broad connoisseur of the private health system in the region, estimates that the influx of patients to private health centers in Táchira state since the start of the pandemic has decreased by at least 60%.
“This has forced the private health centers to take drastic measures, such as the massive dismissal of personnel.” he says, explaining that in many cases the staff of nurses, stretcher-bearers and waiters has decreased substantially. “More than 70% of the workforce that kept the clinics operational has retired and only essential personnel remain.”
He estimates that the recovery, after the gradual lifting of the quarantine, will also be slow, as private health centers are making great economic efforts to stay operational in this time of crisis, “then they will have to balance the accounts before starting to recruit personnel again”.
Frontier, lifeline
The hyperinflationary crisis that affects Venezuela has been a great opportunity for Colombians to access an optimal quality health system, offered in the best health centers in Táchira, at very affordable prices due to the increasingly favorable exchange rate differential, It attracts clients not only from Cúcuta but also from Bucaramanga and other cities. Parada remembers that since 2015, after the closure of borders, a growing presence of people who traveled from Colombia in search of health care began; Furthermore, as of 2018, with the advent of hyperinflation and the consequent accelerated increase in the costs of goods and services, private insurance – which constituted the backbone of the income of private health centers – did not manage to provide coverage. to the clinical needs of its clients, which caused the system hitherto established to collapse.
Alfredo Orozco, shareholder of a private health center in San Cristóbal, adds that the majority of patients who from Colombia moved to Táchira in search of medical care before the mandatory quarantine, correspond to the surgical area, since the inconveniences do not compensate the effort of a consultation. “Venezuelan doctors for years have been offering consultations in Cúcuta because it is easier for patients to treat themselves there and travel to Venezuela only in the eventual case of surgery.”
He adds that in view of this situation, the Venezuelan clinics prepared special packages for Colombian clients who even contemplated the post-operative transfer by ambulance to San Antonio, “and even so, it is much cheaper than having surgery in Colombia,” he said, at the time of add that in the midst of the pandemic, all surgeries from across the border have been abruptly paralyzed since March; “It is very difficult and irresponsible to transfer a patient by a gauge.” Private consultations have also suffered the rigors of restrictions against coronavirus and have registered a decrease of more than 50%.
Public health as an alternative
“We resisted putting a lock on the Central Hospital of San Cristóbal even if we do not have resources,” the governor of Táchira recently told local journalists when listing the difficulties faced by this healthcare center, which has become a sentinel hospital in times of pandemic, and classified as the second best in care in all of Venezuela.
For his part, Leonardo Contreras, director of the hospital center, reported that despite the difficulties, the care figures reflect at this time of quarantine 6,500 patients hospitalized for different pathologies, 185 people operated on for trauma emergencies, have been treated 472 patients for respiratory triage, 6 patients recovered from COVID-19, as well as 280 general emergency surgeries and 448 interventions between deliveries, caesarean sections and uterine curettage.
María Niño ran with her young daughter for medical attention after the minor suffered a fainting from dehydration after several days of vomiting and stomach problems. “When I got in the car, my husband looked at me and said: To the clinic ?; and I answer him: Clinic? The few dollars we have will hardly be enough for medicines, we go quickly to the hospital.
Like her, there are more and more cases of Venezuelans whose standard of living usually allowed them access to the private health system and to whom the reality of the country now forces them to go to public hospitals, which together with the lack of supplies and the manipulation of Public health policies have led the sector in a downward spiral that accuses massive desertions of health personnel, deterioration of hospital infrastructure, notable failures in the provision of supplies, medicines and even food.
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