In an unsettling series of events, an anonymous boy has become the second cancer-afflicted kid openly protesting against the government of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.
Due to a severe medicine shortage, materials needed for chemotherapy are scarce, even non-existent. Every day hundreds of Venezuelans die for the lack of efficient health-care, as hospital resources have become very limited in the South American nation.
DESGARRADOR- Este pequeño hace el mismo llamado de Oliver Sánchez antes de morir.
¿El Gobierno lo dejará morir? pic.twitter.com/DIadzOjvQI— Alberto Rodríguez (@AlbertoRT51) May 26, 2016
“I’m a patient of the Pediatrics Specialties Hospital of Maracaibo; we are in crisis. We don’t even have solutions to comply with our treatments,” he stated in a Twitter video. “That’s why I want this message to reach President Nicolas Maduro. Do not be indifferent regarding our struggle and our parents’. We need chemotherapy now; cancer doesn’t wait.”
The sad story of Oliver Sanchez
The video of the anonymous kid surfaces amid the state of shock due to the passing of 8-year old Oliver Sanchez, who openly protested in Caracas back in February to claim for the medicines he needed for this cancer treatment.
Oliver was suffering from non-Hodkin lymphoma. His mother repeatedly stated to the media how they struggled to find the medicine Oliver needed. Since January, they have not been able to find the entire prescription in any of the country’s pharmacies.
Oliver gained the media’s attention through a protest carried on by health professionals where they claimed that the shortage of medicines has reached an outstanding 80 percent. The protest was heavily guarded by the National Guard, and pictures show young Oliver holding his protest sign next to a police officer donning protective armor. He died last Wednesday.
“No country can be compared to Venezuela which guarantees free medication for people with serious diseases,” the Vice-president of Development Jorge Arreaza claimed.
According to the government officials, the shortage is caused by an “economic war” carried on by opposition parties and external powers. The National Assembly with an opposition majority, called for a state of “humanitarian crisis” in health care so there is a chance of receiving international aid from worldwide ONGs, but the government has chosen not to recognize the state of crisis dictated by the National Assembly.
Source: El Nacional