Venezuela faces post-quake medical crisis as threat of infections looms

Medical professionals and humanitarian workers are raising alarms about a significant health crisis in Venezuela following the twin earthquakes on June 24. These disasters resulted in at least 2,295 fatalities and over 11,000 injuries. Many displaced individuals are forced to sleep in overcrowded shelters or outdoors, lacking access to clean water and facing poor sanitation. This situation highlights Venezuela's ongoing shortage of medical personnel, a consequence of prolonged economic turmoil, insufficient funding, and emigration. Eugenio Cova, who leads the trauma unit at Hospital del Oeste Dr. Jose Gregorio Hernandez in Caracas, expresses concern about potential infections from extended exposure to the disaster. Veronique Durroux, a spokesperson for the UN humanitarian agency in Latin America and the Caribbean, cautions about the risk of vector-borne diseases due to heat and waste management problems.