Venezuelan parents with children in hospitals terrified Maduro will cut off care: Trish Regan
Venezuela Freedom fighter Debbie D’Souza and Fox News medical correspondent Dr. Marc Siegel discuss the report that Cuban doctors in Venezuela claimed that they were being forced to withhold medical treatments and coerce patients into supporting disputed Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.
Parents of children in Venezuelan hospitals are worried that care will be cut off by embattled President Nicolas Maduro if they refuse to support the regime, FOX Business’ Trish Regan has learned.
“I have spoken to many of the parents who have children in the hospitals in Venezuela. I have spoken to mothers that have told me they are terrified to come forward because the Nicolás Maduro socialist regime will cut off all care for their children,” Regan said on Monday.
This comes on the heels of a New York Times report that said Maduro is illegally trying to gain votes by holding out benefits.
Venezuela’s health system is in a state of collapse. Hospitals across the country lack even the basic necessities, like soap and a reliable water supply, let alone the drugs they need to treat their patients. At least 22,000 doctors, 55% of the country’s total, reportedly abandoned the country between 2012 and 2017.
Venezuelan Freedom fighter Debbie D’Souza said Maduro is using anything he can, including life-saving medical treatments, to secure votes.
“He will manipulate people into voting for him, he will blackmail. They follow people into the booth and make them vote for him,” he said.
D’Souza said the conditions in the Latin American country are dire.
“They promise free health care and the system is broken down, there really is no free health care. There is no health care. People die every day because they don’t have any medicine. They can’t get surgeries. People don’t even have beds and this not just coming from the New York Times. This is coming from my family telling me this firsthand,” he said.
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And according to Fox News Medical Correspondent, Dr. Marc Siegel, the manipulation spreads even further.
“It’s not just doctors,” he said. “It’s government officials pretending to be doctors going around. It’s doctors being forced to trade antibiotics for their own food. It’s not just medicines, where there is a 90% shortage of medicine in the country. If you want to eat, vote for Maduro.”