By Estrella Gutiérrez
CARACAS, Sep 9 1998 (IPS)

The entire medical staff of one hospital were sacked and irate gun-wielding individuals demanded doctor’s attend their relatives in Venezuela, as the first week of health strikes came to a close.

Stoppages in the public health sector started in the Federal District and now extend to five states, with some 6,000 doctors on strike, 35 hospitals and 500 out-patients departments either closed or in chaos.

This Tuesday 20 professional associations linked to the health area stated they would join the strike, while several hospitals are still full of patients refusing to leave until they are attended refusing to accept their medical discharge.

The strike became an issue for December’s presidential election campaigns, with all major candidates giving their position on the crisis.

Leaders supporting the hot favourite, Hugo Chavez, backed the protest but called for mediation from the Catholic Church, while the number two, Henrique Salas, classed it as “a people-killing strike.”

Doctors are demanding their salaries be doubled, but their union leaders have shown themselves willing to negotiate in exchange for the restitution of the collapsed Venezuelan Social Security Institute (IVSS), within wholescale social security reforms.

“This is promoting an ascending escalation of hate which is inciting something serious in this country, running beyond the ends of a union protest,” said Doctor Eduardo Villasmil, one of the few who turned up to work in the emergency department of one Caracas hospital.

Friday the government issues a “return to work” order, which compels strikers in essential services to go back. However, doctors did not comply with the measure and the number of strikers actually increased.

According to official figures, nearly 70 percent of Venezuela’s 23 million inhabitants live in poverty and are dependent on the public health service.

This, meanwhile, is in a seriously deteriorated state due to a lack of supplies and equipment and the practical inoperational state of the IVSS – criticised for corruption at all levels.

The decision made by Governor of Caracas, retired General Moises Orozco, to sack the 142 doctors at one of the biggest hospitals in the capital only made the conflict more radical, and the few doctors still at work declared they were being overstretched as a result of the crisis.

This Monday, in another hospital, a woman suffering apparent signs of a heart attack was forced to wait for medical attention until her desperate son pulled out a gun on staff.

The Venezuelan Medical Federation rejected the strike, but was pushed aside by the capital’s collegiate of doctors. The Venezuelan Workers Centre, the biggest in the nation, does not back the strike either “as it attacks the poorest people.”

What independent analysts classed as the “point of no return” Tuesday, occurred with the sacking of the medical staff of the Lidice hospital, after they abandonned their posts en masse for five days, without supplying promised coverage in emergency and other essential areas.

President of the Collegiate of Doctors of the Federal District, Fernando Bianco, said this measure only “strengthened the response of the medical union” complaining that while the government claims it has no money to cover a pay increase, it can afford to lay off the medical professionals.

Planning Minister, Teodoro Petkoff, countered that funds for the redundnacy payments would come from a special fund for reducing personnel in public administration.

Petkoff accused Bianco of having the attitude of a mafioso, when the latter offered to limit salary demands in return for them not definitively eliminating the IVSS from the year 2000.

“Under the code of Vito Corleone (the main character of the novel ‘the Godfather’) this is what is called blackmail or extortion,” said Petkoff, who already came up against Bianco in a previous tough national strike in January 1997.

The minister said Bianco would have to explain why he was defending one of the State entities most rejected by the population, adding some 2,300 doctors picked up earnings here either without working or without fulfilling their schedules.

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By Estrella Gutiérrez
CARACAS, Sep 8 1998 (IPS)

The entire medical staff of one hospital were sacked and irate gun-wielding individuals demanded doctor’s attend their relatives in Venezuela, as the first week of health strikes came to a close.

Stoppages in the public health sector started in the Federal District and now extend to five states, with some 6,000 doctors on strike, 35 hospitals and 500 out-patients departments either closed or in chaos.

This Tuesday 20 professional associations linked to the health area stated they would join the strike, while several hospitals are still full of patients refusing to leave until they are attended refusing to accept their medical discharge.

The strike became an issue for December’s presidential election campaigns, with all major candidates giving their position on the crisis.

Leaders supporting the hot favourite, Hugo Chavez, backed the protest but called for mediation from the Catholic Church, while the number two, Henrique Salas, classed it as “a people-killing strike.”

Doctors are demanding their salaries be doubled, but their union leaders have shown themselves willing to negotiate in exchange for the restitution of the collapsed Venezuelan Social Security Institute (IVSS), within wholescale social security reforms.

“This is promoting an ascending escalation of hate which is inciting something serious in this country, running beyond the ends of a union protest,” said Doctor Eduardo Villasmil, one of the few who turned up to work i
ZCZC IPS154 MVD047 BB XA EE XJ XX QN SERVESP .DEVAMVD LA EN DV CUBA: Sequía podría provocar crisis alimentaria

por Dalia Acosta

LA HABANA, 8 sep (IPS) Cuba podría enfrentar una severa crisis alimentaria como consecuencia del impacto en la agricultura de la sequía de los últimos siete meses, advirtió el Programa Mundial de Alimentos (PMA) de la ONU.

“La situación está empeorando y es evidente que el país enfrenta una carencia seria de alimentos”, afirma un documento entregado a la prensa por la oficina del PMA en La Habana, que el día 1 hizo un llamamiento a gobiernos, empresarios y organizaciones de la sociedad civil.

El representante del PMA, Germán Valdivia, aseguró que la gravedad de la situación se conocerá en los próximos meses, cuando llegue el momento de cosecha de los principales cultivos.

Valdivia presentó públicamente un programa de emergencia de 27 millones de dólares aprobado por el PMA. De este monto, el gobierno cubano aportará 6,5 millones, para llevar ayuda a 615.195 víctimas de la sequía en las orientales provincias de Santiago de Cuba, Granma, Holguín, Guantánamo y Las Tunas.

La ayuda de emergencia representará menos del 10 por ciento de las pérdidas en alimentos esperadas por Cuba, según el funcionario de la Organización de las Naciones Unidas Unidas (ONU).

Una misión de la ONU concluyó que “en un segundo año de comportamiento climático atípico, causado por el fenómeno de El Niño, se han producido pérdidas en las cosechas que pudieran alcanzar las 608.562 toneladas métricas”.

La inspección, realizada en julio a solicitud del gobierno cubano, pronosticó que de persistir la sequía hasta fines de septiembre las pérdidas en el sector alimentario alcanzarían a 267 millones de dólares.

Hasta ese momento, las pérdidas en la ganadería se valoraba en ocho millones de dólares, mientras que los embalses de agua potable en las cinco provincias orientales afectadas se mantienen a menos de la mitad de su capacidad.

La misión de la ONU se limitó a observar los posibles efectos alimentarios y no evaluó el impacto en otros sectores de gran importancia para las exportaciones cubanas, como la caña de azúcar, el tabaco, el café y la pesca.

Según el PMA, “la no siembra y la significativa pérdida de las cosechas en el período de marzo a agosto de 1998, etapa más importante para éstas en Cuba, es un hecho irreversible”.

“De no producirse la respuesta de la comunidad internacional a este llamado, los grupos poblacionales más vulnerables en Cuba sufrirían de desnutrición y quedarían más debilitados y propensos a las enfermedades”, dijo la directora ejecutiva del PMA, Catherine Bertine, al lanzar la convocatoria de ayuda.

El impacto de la sequía sobre la agricultura se hace aún mayor por la crisis que desde 1990 afecta a todos los sectores económicos en Cuba, incluida la producción de alimentos para una población de más de 11 millones de personas.

Fuentes oficiales cubanas aseguran que entre 1965 y 1988, el consumo por habitante aumentó de 2.552 a 2.953 kilocalorías y de 66

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