CARACAS, (Reuters) – With scores of medicines in short supply due to a severe financial squeeze, Venezuela is suffering a “humanitarian crisis” and requires rapid international assistance, according to a major pharmaceutical association.
The Venezuelan Pharmaceutical Federation listed 150 medicines, from those for hypertension to cancer, as well as basics such as prophylactics and antibiotics, which are scarce in the OPEC nation of 29 million people.
“The national government must accept we are in a humanitarian crisis in the health sector, with patients dying across our territory for lack of medicines,” said association president Freddy Ceballos in a statement.