Note: Single-source report; awaiting corroboration.
The UN-backed Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) reports all eight health facilities assessed in La Guaira, Caracas, and Miranda urgently need external support, with three suffering structural damage from recent earthquakes in Venezuela.
At Vargas-IVSS hospital in La Guaira, 96 patients are housed in a ward meant for eight beds. Essential services are severely disrupted: the morgue is overwhelmed, the blood bank holds only 35 units, and both trauma unit ventilators are non-functional due to power outages. Phone and internet service are unavailable for patient tracking. Water is delivered by hand-carried containers several times daily, and medical waste has accumulated in corridors. Despite being structurally sound, PAHO classifies this facility as the highest priority for assistance.
The Rafael Medina Jiménez hospital in La Guaira has reduced bed capacity from 108 to 35. Common issues at this and other facilities include difficulties with patient transport, supply shortages, longer surgical waiting lists, and biosecurity failures.
Ian Clark of WHO’s Health Emergencies Programme noted that many responders are personally affected by the disaster, with some missing, including the official responsible for maternal care coordination in La Guaira, hindering efforts to monitor pregnant women requiring care.
Clark also emphasized that Venezuela’s health system was already weakened before the earthquakes, with hospitals facing shortages of up to 37 percent of essential medicines after years of underinvestment, and a significant loss of health workers due to emigration.
PAHO has delivered over two tonnes of medicines and supplies to La Guaira’s regional health authority, including trauma kits, injectable medicines, protective equipment, and 320 body bags. Additional supplies arrived from Panama. A 48-bed field hospital with four intensive care posts and two operating theatres is now operational, with more medical teams joining the response.
Authorities report 2,295 deaths, 11,267 injuries, and 12,841 people displaced or seriously affected by the earthquakes.