The lives of hundreds of cancer patients from different regions of the country are at risk because the radiotherapy equipment of the “Dr. Ramón Millán” Hospital, in San Juan de los Morros, capital of Guárico State, has been inoperative all this year.
lapatilla.com correspondent
Gladys Peña, a relative of an oncology patient from neighboring Anzoátegui State, pointed out that the regional healthcare authorities allegedly bought the spare part to repair the machine, but it is not yet operational.
“We want the healthcare authorities to come and give us an explanation, to tell us what is happening and why the device has not been activated,” Peña urged.
Carmen Piamo, an oncology patient, remarked that she has been waiting for radiotherapy for six months and demanded that the right to healthcare be fulfilled. “I want to extend my life with this treatment and I would like to tell the President of the Republic and the entities that have to do with it, that they give us a hand in this call, because it seems that the President has not listened to us.”
For her part, Gledys García, wife of a cancer patient, both from the south of Anzoátegui State, recounted the difficulties they are going through trying to access free treatment in San Juan de los Morros.
“We came from Pariaguán, we have been here for eight months, he has already finished (chemotherapy), they gave him the first round of chemo, we are waiting for radiotherapy, and it is as the lady says, everything is expensive. We are renting and we have to keep traveling (…), but we are in this constant struggle every day and trusting in God. That’s why we ask people to help us, because it is a disease that you don’t know when it attacks,” García concluded, sobbing.
A health source informed the lapatilla.com reporting team that despite the repair of the cobalt machine, it is not at its full operational capacity, which is why the national radioactive protection body allegedly prohibited the use of the equipment.
It is worth remembering that in mid-March, the governor of the Guárico State, José Vásquez, assured that they were evaluating a project that includes the replacement of the current radiotherapy equipment with a more sophisticated one. He noted that this new acquisition would represent a large sum of money. However, it is unknown whether the regional or national government initiated the procedures for this purchase.
Meanwhile, in the midst of the uncertainty generated by the diagnosis of an oncological pathology and being on a waiting list without the certainty of ever being treated with the required promptness, some patients and their families beg the administration of Nicolás Maduro to purchase new radiotherapy and brachytherapy equipment for the “Dr. Ramón Millán” hospital in San Juan de los Morros.