They denounce the persecution of Nicolás Maduro's regime against doctors who denounce the crisis in Venezuela before the UN mission

Venezuelan doctors targeted by Nicolás Maduro regime for trying to alert the UN mission, currently visiting the country, on the serious shortage of equipment and medicines in hospitals, according to several NGOs.

Chavismo says the sanctions of the United States, which froze 30,000 million badets of the country, prevent it from importing necessities, including drugs.

"This morning, they forcibly removed the president of the medical school of Maracay Hospital (west of Caracas) and since then we do not know where she is.", He told the agency on Monday AFP Jaime Lorenzo, executive director of the NGO Médicos Unidos, without specifying who could be at the origin of this incident.

"I was protesting against the repression of health workers and those who denounce the lack of drugs and the malfunction of hospitals," he added.

The opposition MP for the state of Vargas, José Manuel Olivares, oncologist and radiation therapist, reported on Twitter that it is "third doctor in two weeks who is persecuted for reporting the situation in hospitals"

There were incidents on Sunday between Barquisimeto hospital staff in the north-west and a group of Chavez supporters who threw stones at them while awaiting the arrival of the High Commissioner's envoys. United Nations to human rights. Michelle Bachelet.

According to Médicos Unidos, the crackdown has intensified in the last two weeks. "We have drawn attention to our patients, who are dying for lack of supplies and equipment, and doctors have been arrested without any justification," said Lorenzo.

Saturday, a young doctor from the state of Carabobo (southwest of Caracas), Ronnie Villasmil, announced his exit from the country via Twitter after being summoned by the police for contacting the mission: "Today, I had to flee like a criminal, today my mother cries to me"

The doctor stated that his home had been searched and that the aim was to deprive him of his freedom. "My only crime was to show the world the precarious situation in which they live in Carabobo hospitals at the @ONU_en commission."he wrote.

The mission of the UN, composed of five people – who are absent from any contact with the press – is in Venezuela in a "preliminary technical mission"prepare a possible visit of the Chilean Michelle Bachelet, officially invited by the Venezuelan regime in November.

In Barquisimeto, United Nations envoys went to the hospital, escorted by doctors and local authorities.

A doctor who accompanied the visit said to have quoted in an interview with one of the delegates "all the defects of the hospital, the wages of the poor"that the doctors receive and"medicated failures"

"I told him that the patients we operate could not follow chemotherapy and that those who did not know how to buy (from the country) were dying." Book your name.

In Venezuela, a doctor earns between 18,000 and 30,000 bolivares a month, about $ 6 and $ 10, respectively.

Operation "makeup"

Several NGOs such as Provea denounce that the regime has set up an operation of "makeup"in the hospitals and prisons visited by the commissioners to hide their precariousness.

"In Valencia and Barquisimeto we saw trucks carrying doctors and supplies to the hospital where the mission was planned.", Assured Jaime Lorenzo.

"The composition of the dictatorship in hospitals and prisons before the visit of the Technical Committee (…) shows the indolence and cruelty of the de facto government. They can improve the facilities they can give drugs, but they are indolent, "said on Twitter the NGO Provea, criticism of the dictatorship of Maduro.

In public hospitals, 90% of needed medical products are missing and almost all public labs have shut down, according to a national survey conducted by the NGO Doctors for Health and Parliament, the only institution controlled by the opposition.

The government has not published any official figures for three years.

The situation is further aggravated by the departure of many doctors. According to the Venezuelan Federation of Doctors, 22,800 doctors opted for exile in recent years. "For us, the numbers are higher," Lorenzo said.

A total of 3.4 million Venezuelans have left the country, including 2.7 million since 2015, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.

The March 7 outburst, which plunged the country into the dark for nearly a week, further aggravated the situation.