On the third day of the power outage in Venezuela, they report that 15 patients have died due to lack of dialysis

Fifteen renal patients have died after paralysis of dialysis services in the context of the mbadive power outage that takes more than 48 hours in Venezuela, denounced the NGO Codevida this Saturday.

"Between yesterday and today, we have 15 deaths due to the absence of dialysis – nine of these deaths were in Zulia, two in Trujillo and four in Pérez Carreño de Caracas hospital"He said at AFP Francisco Valencia, director of the coalition of NGOs for the right to health and life (Codevida).

Kidney patients live very critical hours because of the lack of electricity in at least 95% of 139 dialysis units in Venezuela.

"The situation of people with kidney failure is very difficult and critical.We are talking about about 95% of the dialysis units, which today would reach 100%, are paralyzed, because of the Interruption of electricity, Valencia added.

Venezuelans are facing since the afternoon of Thursday to the worst power outage in the history of the oil country, which the government attributes to an alleged "electric war" led by the US government and the opposition Juan Guaidó, recognized interim president 50 countries

"In the few dialysis units where there were power stations, it became difficult to reconnect them due to lack of fuel," warned Valencia, also a kidney transplant victim.

The situation is more dramatic in the states of the interior of the country, such as Zulia, where they cumulate up to 50 hours of uninterrupted power outage. In Caracas, energy has been restored for several hours in some areas.

President Nicolás Maduro said Saturday that the mbadive blackout was caused by "high-tech attacks" in his first public hint at the giant power outage.

"We have received this ambush of the electric attack, which is the most serious attack ever seen by a country in Latin America," Maduro said at a government rally in front of the government palace in New York. Miraflores.

The dead could increase

The director of Codevida warned that the number of deaths could increase due to the complications of kidney failure.

"We had edematous patients due to lack of dialysis, then there was swelling of the extremities, which could lead to cardiac arrest and other complications that could lead to the death of more than 10,200 people on dialysis in the country"he remarked.

In a dialysis unit in the city of Valencia, in the state of Carabobo, could receive only one hour of dialysis on Saturday, "while the treatment required by international protocols is four hours", has he declared.

In addition, yesterday (Friday) "48 children who depend on the only pediatric dialysis unit in the country could not be dialysed (…) This adds to the lack of drugs and supplies that lasts for many years, "complained Valencia.

According to NGOs, other patients also suffered from failures in the electricity production systems of hospitals.

Under Maduro's leadership, Venezuela has fallen into the worst crisis in its recent history, characterized by a marked drug shortage and hyperinflation that is expected to reach 10 million percent this year, according to the IMF, which has forced an exodus of 2 , 7 million Venezuelans since 2015, according to the UN.

By Margioni Bermúdez (AFP)