[NYTr] Venezuela Begins Construction of Six New Hospitals Date: Wed, 3 Oct 2007 19:56:28 -0500 (CDT) Via NY Transfer News Collective * All the News that Doesn't Fit Venezuelanalysis - Oct 1, 2007 http://www.venezuelanalysis.com/news/2670 Venezuela Begins Construction of Six New Hospitals By Chris Carlson MC)rida, Venezuela - Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez inaugurated the construction of six new hospitals across the country on his national TV and radio program AlC3 Presidente yesterday. The president praised the results of his government's health program, Barrio Adentro, and promised to continue increasing access to health care and education in the country. Chavez also criticized increased consumption of imported luxury goods, and threatened to tighten controls on the importation of these goods. "Today we are beginning the construction of 15 hospitals that are going to have two purposes. They are all going to be general hospitals, but each one of them is going to have a different specialty," said Chavez from the hospital construction site in central state of Barinas. As part of the fourth phase of the national health system Barrio Adentro, the government has announced the construction of 15 advanced general hospitals, each with a different specialty. On Sunday the president inaugurated the construction of the first six of these hospitals to be finished over the next two years. These six will be specialized in toxicology, oncology, gastroenterology, urology, cardiology, and maternity, and will be spread out in six different states around the country. Chavez hosted his TV and radio show from his home state of Barinas where he inaugurated the construction of the hospital to be built there. Specializing in toxicology, this hospital will have a total of 170 beds for general medicine, 30 beds for special cases, operating rooms, emergency room, intensive care, diagnostics, a heart care unit, a helicopter landing pad, and a hotel. The hospital will require an investment of Bs. 2.5 trillion (US$ 1.2 billion), much of which will come from the Fonden development fund. "This hospital is going to be the same as the Infant Cardiology Hospital [in Caracas], as will all of the 15 hospitals that we are announcing. This is Barrio Adentro 4, the third level of integrated health care for all the people of Venezuela," said Chavez. President Chavez went on to acknowledge the contributions of the more than 30,000 Cuban medical personnel that staff the Barrio Adentro health program across the country. Chavez assured that the Cuban doctors who have been working in the country over the last five years have saved more lives than in all of Venezuelan history and stressed that their aid has been worth "much more" than what Venezuela sends Cuba in oil. The president read some statistics about the Barrio Adentro health program, explaining that in 2007 the infant mortality rate dropped by almost 25 percent, saving the lives of some 1200 infants. Around 60 million medical treatments have been carried out, according to the statistics, and nearly 9 million people are receiving permanent rehabilitation through the program. In Caracas infant mortality decreased by 75 percent, according to government statistics. Chavez criticized those who have accused him of "giving money to Cuba," calling them "foolish." "If someone could add it up, dollar by dollar, cent by cent, what is worth more? The barrels of petroleum that we sell to Cuba, or this?" he asked, referring to the contributions of the Cuban medical personnel. Chavez also warned private health clinics again about their prices. The Chavez government has been trying to apply price controls to the private clinics in the country, but Chavez admitted on Sunday that he had been "letting it go" lately to allow them to adjust. He assured that he would be forced to take further measures if the private medical sector did not follow the regulations. He also warned private schools about following the national school curriculum that was released by the Ministry of Education recently. "Any school that doesn't abide by the new curriculum, nationalize it," said Chavez to his ministers. Chavez went on to criticize excess consumption of luxury goods in the country, for which he said currency controls will have to be tightened. Although the president assured that the economic growth is continuing, he criticized the amount of resources being spent on luxury goods such as whiskey and Hummer vehicles. "Let's tighten the controls because the currency controls have gotten too relaxed," he said to his ministers. "What country is this anyway, and what revolution is this? The revolution of whiskey, of hummers? No, this is a real revolution my friend, for real!" Chavez stressed that the nation's international reserves must be used on social projects and productive projects, and not on "consumption that is just as disturbing for the government as for society." The Chavez government controls imports through exchange controls, exchanging a limited amount of Bolivars to dollars to be used by importers on the international market. He assured that "not one dollar" would be approved for importing Hummers into the country. He also assured limits would be put on the importation of whiskey. "I am not willing to keep giving out dollars to import whiskey in the amounts that we are giving out. Everything that it has cost us to recover the economy, blood, sweat and tears, just to give dollars to the rich so they can buy Hummers and drink whiskey and whatever else? No way!" he said. * ================================================================= NY Transfer News Collective * A Service of Blythe Systems Since 1985 - Information for the Rest of Us Our main website: http://www.blythe.org List Archives: http://blythe-systems.com/pipermail/nytr/ Subscribe: http://blythe-systems.com/mailman/listinfo/nytr =================================================================