The World Health Organisation (WHO) cautioned on Tuesday that Venezuela’s medical infrastructure is under intense duress following last week’s devastating double quakes, which inflicted damage on multiple hospitals and left a number of health workers unaccounted for.
The UN health agency reported that the successive 7.2 and 7.5-magnitude tremors have claimed over 1,700 lives and injured roughly 5,000 more, while hundreds of structures were either leveled or sustained serious damage.
During a press conference in Geneva, WHO spokesperson Christian Lindmeier stated that a preliminary evaluation of 21 healthcare centers in the quake-stricken zones revealed three facilities had been completely wrecked and six others were either impaired or operating with limited functionality.
Lindmeier added that, while the remaining hospitals are still open, they are severely overburdened—citing chaotic administrative procedures, severe patient congestion, and mounting waiting lists for surgeries as key issues uncovered by the initial survey.
The spokesperson also drew attention to the disappearance of several maternity-care specialists in La Guaira, which he labeled a severe shortfall in obstetric services.
Additionally, the WHO voiced apprehension regarding the welfare of the thousands left homeless by the disaster, emphasizing that suboptimal vaccination coverage could spark outbreaks of diseases such as yellow fever and dengue.
