Earthquakes in Venezuela: Caracas has full hospitals and lack of products

A doctor told CNN that hospitals in Venezuela's capital are overwhelmed following last week's devastating earthquakes. He also pointed out that there is a shortage of basic cleaning materials.

"All hospitals are overwhelmed," said Dr Andrés Cortiz, a volunteer with Healing Venezuela, a UK-based charity that provides free healthcare to the Venezuelan population.

Eight hospitals in and around the capital were forced to close due to structural damage caused by the successive earthquakes, and patients were transferred to other clinics that remained open, he said.

"Eight hospitals in the Caracas region closed due to structural damage... and all the patients who were there were transferred to other hospitals in Caracas, which overloaded their capacity," he commented.

Doctor Cortiz said that hospitals urgently need disinfectant solutions, such as bleach.

He stated that the hospital team did not have enough products to disinfect the floors and that they had been requesting "bleach, detergent and material to sterilize and clean the area".

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Source: CNN