Since the beginning of 2024, regional public opinion has expressed concern about the high rates of neonatal and infant mortality rates at the Luis Ortega Hospital in Porlamar.
lapatilla.com correspondent
The situation is not new, since this has been evident for a couple of years, especially since 2023, which has been corroborated in the media monitoring carried out by the Venezuelan Violence Observatory in this island state.
The former president and legislator of the Legislative Council of Nueva Esparta, Mairym Bruzual, indicated that during the last quarter of last year, was recorded the death of 67 newborns, including her three-day-old granddaughter.
“My daughter had her pregnancy checked at a private clinic, but out of necessity she had to give birth at the hospital. It is an unhealthy place, lacking supplies and equipment. Furthermore, I can say that there is obstetric violence. She had a prolonged labor and the baby had severe perinatal asphyxia, she was admitted to neonatal intensive care and on the third day she died. In that short period, while there, I learned of the death of 4 or 5 children per day,” Bruzual told the local representatives of the OVV.
This NGO has also collected testimonies from relatives of the victims, who have reported to the corresponding authorities the complex and serious situation in the main healthcare center of the Island state, and yet no action has been taken in this regard to this date.
The official non-public figures of those who died in the hospital in the last quarter of 2023 include 67 newborns from 0 to 7 days, 14 neonates over 8 days old, 6 infants from 31 days to 1 year, 5 children from year to 12 years old, and 5 adolescents between 12 and 18 years old. In total, 97 deaths of children and adolescents.
In March of that same year, the media reported the death of 30 newborns in less than two weeks at the Porlamar Hospital, and in the space of two months and ten days, 65 newborns died.
The deputy to the National Assembly for Nueva Esparta, Fayruz Haraylia, expressed that she draws attention to the fact that women who have completed their prenatal check-up, and babies who come with an absolutely normal pregnancy, die as a result of the dire conditions or due to in-hospital infections.
“Sometimes hours pass and family members are not informed of what is happening or have access to medical history. We will continue posting the warnings; There is a lack of investment and oversight in this hospital, which is the busiest in the entity,” the national legislator warned.