Venezuela’s medicine shortage sends cancer mortality rates soaring

The Pharmaceutical Federation of Venezuela says the country is experiencing a 95 percent shortage in medicines needed to treat high-cost diseases like cancer.

The political and economic crisis in Venezuela may be the worst that the hemisphere has seen in modern history.

Thousands of people need medical aid but face difficulties obtaining basic supplies due to severe shortages.

According to the Pharmaceutical Federation of Venezuela, the country is experiencing a 95 percent shortage in medicines needed to treat high-cost diseases like cancer.

In the absence of medication, President Nicolas Maduro has launched what he calls an “ancestral health plan” to treat diseases with herbs and natural products.

But the Anticancer Society of Venezuela says the scarcity of medicine is playing a big role in the rising mortality rate of cancer patients in Venezuela which the organisation says has increased 11% in the last year.

TRT World‘s Juan Carlos Lamas reports from the largest children’s hospital in Caracas where more than 20 young cancer patients are receiving treatment.