Venezuelan Government Hands Out 90 Ambulances to Communal Councils, Hospitals

Merida, 19^th March 2014 (Venezuelanalysis.com) – Yesterday the national government handed out ninety ambulances to a range of communal councils, Integral Diagnostic Centres (CDI) and hospitals.

Vice-president Jorge Arreaza handed out the documents and vehicle keys to the new ambulance owners, who had requested the vehicles through the Federal Council of Government (CFG). The total cost of the vehicles was Bs70,707,266.

“Apart from the latest technology… the ambulances had satellite location systems installed, in order to be able to know their location at any time, in case of any eventuality,” Arreaza said.

The minister for health, Francisco Armada, also said that the ambulances will connect regional and communal health centres with specialised hospitals. He said that many will cover zones that don’t have health services or are in hard to access areas.

“We’re going to keep going. Here, no conspiratorial process can stop the effort that a people have made for 15 years. While others go about still throwing stones, setting things on fire and setting up barricades, we are here handing out life and health to communities and mayoralties,” Arreaza said.

He further invited the “rightwing” mayors and governors to put in requests for ambulances, and explained that the health minister had met with a group of doctors, and that “those doctors who demanded improvements in the [health] sector chose not to go to the meeting”.

There are now 6,712 community consultation offices or Barrio Adentros, and 566 hospitals or CDIs, set up through an agreement with Cuba, and staffed by Cuban and Venezuelan doctors.