Doctors at the San Juan de Dios hospital, one of the main hospitals in Guatemala, warned this Tuesday that they are without a supply of medicines and basic supplies to care for patients.
“This is a problem of national urgency,” said Dr. Napoleón Rojas, a member of the San Juan de Dios hospital, located in the center of Guatemala City, during a press conference.
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“We are very concerned about the high demand from patients,” added Rojas, who explained that “the whole problem has worsened due to the lack of basic supplies to be able to work.”
For her part, the vice minister of HealthLinda Valencia, stated in the same press conference that the hospital has a previous debt of around 25 million dollars and that some suppliers had stopped delivering medicines because of it.
Valencia also explained that the hospital has around 35% of the supply of medicines and that they hope to remedy the emergency in 48 hours.
#NowLH | Napoleón Méndez, doctor in the emergency area of the San Juan de Dios General Hospital, refers to the hospital crisis they face due to the lack of medicines and medical supplies. He asks the authorities of the Ministry of Health to take immediate action.
✍️: Hedy… pic.twitter.com/vvUwmu6zdZ
— Diario La Hora (@lahoragt) March 5, 2024
San Juan de Dios Hospital
The San Juan de Dios hospital is one of the two largest in Guatemala, along with the Roosevelt hospital, and both serve thousands of people from both the country’s capital and the interior.
The crisis in the Guatemalan health system has continued in recent decades due, according to experts, to the government corruption that has prevailed in the Central American country, in addition to the monopoly on the sale of medicines.
