The undergoing health crisis in Venezuela forces many families to spend days, weeks, and even months in hospitals waiting for supplies or for an available surgery room to solve the most simple medical condition. Such is the case of these three patients hospitalized at the Hospital Universitario de Los Andes in Mérida, a city in the west of the country. Three touching stories are hidden in the corridors of this care center.
A Sick Heart Wanting to Live
Ana is 13 years old. She was very active, and her life was a normal one. Suddenly, she did not eat at all. She started vomiting and having diarrhea. Cellulitis on her right foot decided her hospitalization. However, as time passed by, her picture had become more acute. Nighttime fevers and stomach gastritis had been added to all her ailments. And, there they were, waiting for medical treatment.
The possible diagnosis was an infectious process in the heart. Maybe a defect of her ventricular septum (VSD), was the cause. This lesion causes a hole in the wall of the heart that separates the left and right ventricles of it. It is one of the most common congenital heart defects (present at birth) and can occur alone or with other congenital diseases.
This pathology was corrected with a special device, but “a focus remained”, her mother said. By February 2016, mother and daughter had already spent nine days in this hospital. Away from home. And at least eight more days more.
She had been through and courageous.
In the middle of her depression, Ana's mother whispered to me with a weak smile but at the same time with a triumphant expression on her face, “we've got all of them, thank God”. She was referring to the medicines for her daughter's treatment. She mentioned it because she felt she had gotten a lot. Not only that, but she felt and was lucky, due to the lack of medicines in Venezuela.
Vancomycin, Gentamicin, and Omeprazole were some drugs circulating in Ana's veins while she was waiting for the correct treatment.
How much more would they have to wait?
How much pain would they have to suffer?
Wasn't it enough?
Time Goes By… However Her Hope is Still Present
Lara is from Caja Seca, a small town located in the Sucre municipality of Zulia state in the south of Maracaibo Lake in Venezuela. It is about five hours drive from Merida.
When Lara was seven months of pregnancy she learned that her daughter, Esther, had hydrocephalus. A condition known as “water on the brain” because it is the accumulation of cerebrospinal fluid that surrounds the brain and spinal cord. The excessive quantity of it leads to swelling of the brain.
Esther was born by cesarean section.
In February 2016, she was three months old but did not know the outside world because she or her mom had never left the hospital after she was born. In a medical report dated January 29, 2016, describes that the girl had surgery for the placement of a Becker drainage catheter at the right Kosher Point. However, for surgical resolution, Ester needed a pediatric peritoneal shunt system of medium pressure.
Lara was waiting for the generosity of someone who could help her little one get better. Both of them were waiting for the device for so many days. Lara couldn't find it and even worse, she could not afford to pay that amount of money! It was too expensive for this family.
When she talked to me about her wishes, she revealed that wanted to see her child out of the hospital in a good condition, but suddenly silence invaded the room for a brief pause. Unanticipated, with a very tired face and a shy low voice, Ruth broke the silence saying slowly, “I'm scared. Someone from the governor's office came by and gave me his number. Now he/she does not answer me “. She had called that person many times, but he/she just did not answer her calls. She said, she called “again, and again, again with no response”.
Not only that, but she was afraid. Furthermore, she was disappointed. She did not know what was going to happen to her little girl. After being for so long and alone in a kind of prison fighting for her daughter's life.
She was not going to lose the battle. She was going to wait for answers, solutions, and the generosity of someone who could help her obtain the pediatric peritoneal shunt system of medium pressure that could save her daughter's life.
Limitless Cruelty. A Ruthless 'Father'
The voice of the father provides security and confidence. Establishes limit, and its influence is elemental for the balance and the emotional health of its offspring. Anyhow, it seems that Marta's dad did not understand what a father should be and should do. He beat her up wildly causing multiple severe body harm.
Marta, who was only four years old, was first examined at the Heriberto Romero Hospital of Santa Cruz de Mora in the municipality of Antonio Pinto Salinas in the state of Merida. She was diagnosed with a hematoma in the right frontal region, edema, and ocular obstruction; excoriations in the right forearm; ocular hematoma and multiple excoriations; wounds on the forehead, arms, and lower extremities; and as if that was not enough, second-degree burn in both ear lobes.
Due to the serious health condition, little Marta was transferred to the main and closest hospital in Merida. She was in the care of her grandparents and she was also receiving the required treatments. Now the girl was under the vigilant eye of the doctors while her cruel father was transported to prison to sleep behind bars and face justice with charges at the Public Prosecutor's Office.
Visitors, journalists, and family were able to talk to Marta's family for very short periods of time. Doctors did not allow us to see the girl.
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*For safety reasons, the names of patients and family members have been changed.