Venezuela dialysis patients face uncertain fate after power cuts

Venezuela dialysis patients face uncertain fate after power cuts

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Seconds before William Lopez (pictured below) was set to be connected to a dialysis machine at a state-run clinic in the western Venezuelan city of Maracaibo in April, the power went out.

. Maracaibo, Venezuela. Reuters/Ueslei Marcelino
Lopez waits for the electricity to return, at a dialysis centre during a blackout.

Missing dialysis treatment, which removes toxins that build up in the blood of people who suffer kidney failure, leaves Lopez feeling dizzy and nauseous. Like any chronic kidney patient, he could die if he goes too long without treatment.

Unable to complete his treatment that day, Lopez had little choice but to return home.

When he arrived, the power was out there as well.

"The impotence that I feel makes me want to cry," said Lopez, 45, one of 11,000 Venezuelans whose dialysis treatment has been thrown into disarray by a wave of blackouts in the oil-rich but crisis-stricken South American country.

"Some people go to sleep while they are in treatment. I do not, because I am scared I will never wake up."
William Lopez
. Maracaibo, Venezuela. Reuters/Ueslei Marcelino
A neighbourhood during a blackout.

Electricity has largely been restored to the capital city of Caracas after two nation-wide power outages in March and April.

But many other parts of Venezuela now have power for only several hours per day under a rationing plan put in effect by President Nicolas Maduro.

. Maracaibo, Venezuela. Reuters/Ueslei Marcelino
Lino Lopez, husband of Maria Esis, who has kidney disease, uses his car to collect water during a blackout.

Few places have been harder-hit than sweltering Maracaibo, the country's second-largest city, which still experiences power cuts lasting 10 hours or more per day. That has led to water shortages, making it hard to provide the minimum 120 liters (32 gallons) of water doctors say is needed for a full dialysis session.

Dialysis requires consistent supplies of power and water to provide the recommended treatment of three or four hours, three times a week.

. Maracaibo, Venezuela. Reuters/Ueslei Marcelino
Elimenes Fuenmayor, 65, a kidney disease patient, reacts during a dialysis session, at a dialysis centre.

Venezuela's public hospitals for years have provided free dialysis treatment, thanks to abundant oil revenue and generous health-care spending. But since the economy crashed along with oil prices in 2014, new equipment rarely arrives and the existing machines are not maintained, doctors say.

Maduro says healthcare problems are caused by U.S. sanctions that blocked funds in foreign bank accounts that could be used to pay for imports of equipment and medicine. He says the recent power outages are the result of Washington-backed sabotage of the electrical system.

His adversaries say those problems were created by incompetence and corruption, and that he has refused to recognize the severity of the situation.

The information ministry and the health ministry did not reply to requests for comment.

. Maracaibo, Venezuela. Reuters/Ueslei Marcelino
Lesbia Avila de Molina holds her stomach due to pain, while she waits for the electricity to return, at her house.

Lesbia Avila said she woke up feeling ill one recent morning after receiving just one hour and 40 minutes of treatment the prior day due to lack of power and equipment shortages at her Maracaibo clinic. She said she feels like she is choking when she does not receive full treatment.

"I just ask God that if I die, it will not be of choking," said Avila, 53, as she lay in a hammock at her home in a working class neighborhood in western Maracaibo.

While speaking to a reporter, she turned pale and began to sweat. Her husband, who was laid off from his job at a nearby auto parts factory two months ago, took an old refrigerator drawer for her to vomit into.

. Maracaibo, Venezuela. Reuters/Ueslei Marcelino
Avila cries due to pain.

She said at the privately-owned dialysis center where she goes for treatment, only 18 of 35 dialysis machines are working.

The situation is similar at the 136 state-owned dialysis clinics across the country, said Carlos Marquez, the president of the Venezuelan Nephrology Society. Many of the country's 1,600 machines are not working, he said. The health ministry does not publish figures.

Some private Maracaibo dialysis centers charge patients $70 for a three-hour session, said 48-year-old kidney-disease patient Antonio Briceno. That is equivalent to nearly a year of minimum wage.

. La Concepcion, Venezuela. Reuters/Ueslei Marcelino
Guanipa rests under a tree after a day of dialysis at her home.

"I should have been born rich to be able to buy myself a new kidney," said Aidalis Guanipa, 25, who lives with her 83-year-old grandmother in Maracaibo. They get by on her grandmother's pension and from sales of homemade sweets.

"I have not had dialysis for two days because there has been no electricity. I am scared. "
Aidalis Guanipa
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Slideshow

A chair stands next to kitchen equipment in the house of Guanipa.
. La Concepcion, Venezuela. Reuters/Ueslei Marcelino

A chair stands next to kitchen equipment in the house of Guanipa.

Guanipa prepares her breakfast before a day of dialysis at her home.
. La Concepcion, Venezuela. Reuters/Ueslei Marcelino

Guanipa prepares her breakfast before a day of dialysis at her home.

Guanipa during a dialysis session.
. Maracaibo, Venezuela. Reuters/Ueslei Marcelino

Guanipa during a dialysis session.

Guanipa travels by bus after a dialysis session.
. Maracaibo, Venezuela. Reuters/Ueslei Marcelino

Guanipa travels by bus after a dialysis session.

A Venezuelan policemen orders a man and his sons to move from the street where he was asking for donations during a blackout.
. Maracaibo, Venezuela. Reuters/Ueslei Marcelino

A Venezuelan policemen orders a man and his sons to move from the street where he was asking for donations during a blackout.

Elimenes Fuenmayor, 65, who has kidney disease, is helped by his sons, as he leaves his house to go to the dialysis centre.
. Maracaibo, Venezuela. Reuters/Ueslei Marcelino

Elimenes Fuenmayor, 65, who has kidney disease, is helped by his sons, as he leaves his house to go to the dialysis centre.

Fuenmayor (right), greets another kidney disease patient in front of a dialysis centre.
. Maracaibo, Venezuela. Reuters/Ueslei Marcelino

Fuenmayor (right), greets another kidney disease patient in front of a dialysis centre.

Patients with kidney disease wait with their relatives for electricity to return in front of a dialysis centre during a blackout.
. Maracaibo, Venezuela. Reuters/Ueslei Marcelino

Patients with kidney disease wait with their relatives for electricity to return in front of a dialysis centre during a blackout.

Patients with kidney disease wait with their relatives for a dialysis session at a dialysis centre after a blackout.
. Maracaibo, Venezuela. Reuters/Ueslei Marcelino

Patients with kidney disease wait with their relatives for a dialysis session at a dialysis centre after a blackout.

A patient with kidney disease waits for a dialysis session.
. Maracaibo, Venezuela. Reuters/Ueslei Marcelino

A patient with kidney disease waits for a dialysis session.

Maria Esis, 52, a patient with kidney disease, rests during a dialysis session.
. Maracaibo, Venezuela. Reuters/Ueslei Marcelino

Maria Esis, 52, a patient with kidney disease, rests during a dialysis session.

Avila reacts during a dialysis session.
. Maracaibo, Venezuela. Reuters/Ueslei Marcelino

Avila reacts during a dialysis session.

A nurse waits for the electricity to return at a dialysis centre.
. Maracaibo, Venezuela. Reuters/Ueslei Marcelino

A nurse waits for the electricity to return at a dialysis centre.

Esis uses a telephone during a blackout.
. Maracaibo, Venezuela. Reuters/Ueslei Marcelino

Esis uses a telephone during a blackout.

Esis sits next to her husband Lino Lopez, as they wait for the electricity to return during a blackout.
. Maracaibo, Venezuela. Reuters/Ueslei Marcelino

Esis sits next to her husband Lino Lopez, as they wait for the electricity to return during a blackout.

Maria Esis, 52, a kidney disease patient, in her house during a blackout.
. Maracaibo, Venezuela. Reuters/Ueslei Marcelino

Maria Esis, 52, a kidney disease patient, in her house during a blackout.

Lesbia Avila holds her stomach due to pain.
. Maracaibo, Venezuela. Reuters/Ueslei Marcelino

Lesbia Avila holds her stomach due to pain.

Elimenes Fuenmayor waits for the electricity to return, as his grandson lays beside him on the floor of his house.
. Maracaibo, Venezuela. Reuters/Ueslei Marcelino

Elimenes Fuenmayor waits for the electricity to return, as his grandson lays beside him on the floor of his house.