The Stark Contrast Between Public and Private Healthcare: A Venezuelan Perspective
"Public services often suffer from inefficiency, corruption, and lack of resources, while private services prioritize quality and speed."
This is a publication based on the suggested topic proposed in the Hive Learners community through their discord, which on this occasion is "Government Owned Vs Private Owne".
Welcome, dear readers, to my blog. Today, I bring you a very interesting topic: government-owned services versus private services. This is an extremely interesting subject because, after reading other posts by community members, I’ve noticed how there are significant differences between countries regarding public and private services. For instance, in the case of Nigeria, I see that public services there are of good quality; however, they share the same issue as in Venezuela: they are scarce or rarely updated on time. This is not the case with private services. Here in Venezuela, it’s almost mandatory to rely on or seek out private services, and the reason is as follows. Let’s put it into perspective: I’ll share my personal experience with both types of services. Many years ago, I had an accident at home: I was robbed inside my own house. But I’m not here to tell you about that; rather, the result of that event was that I lost a tooth and suffered severe facial injuries. My entire face was badly wounded at the time. As someone of very limited financial means, I had no choice but to go to a public hospital immediately. I recall that this incident happened late at night, in the early hours of the morning, and I was taken to a public service facility. The police transported me quickly—that, I must acknowledge. The transfer to the hospital’s emergency service was indeed fast. They made me wait nearly 8 hours to be treated, even though I was in serious condition: I had wounds, a knocked-out tooth, was in pain, bleeding, with a swollen face, and feeling terrible. Throughout that waiting period, there were others there too, perhaps in the same or worse condition as me, also forced to wait for care: people with body injuries, bruises… It was quite unpleasant. Enduring nearly 8 hours just to get treated—to have my wounds cleaned, receive painkillers, undergo dental curettage, and get stitches—was grueling. Meanwhile, I’m certain that if I had gone to a private hospital, I would have been treated immediately and spared that 8-hour wait. The primary reason for the delay was that, at the time I arrived, there were no doctors on duty. In other words, there were no physicians available to attend to patients, so we had to wait until morning for them to arrive. And yet, they’re supposed to have staff available to care for everyone. Private hospitals are entirely different. I vividly remember my mother’s case… Let me now share my mother’s experience: when she needed emergency X-rays due to a fractured arm, we took her to one of the best private clinics in our country, and she was attended to almost instantly. That is, she had barely entered the clinic when, within less than 10 minutes, she was already in the MRI room getting her X-rays and MRI done. Of course, this was because it’s a private clinic, and she didn’t have to wait to be seen. No—she was practically attended to on the spot. It was fast. Another point raised by fellow bloggers is the difference in updates and services between public and private institutions. Here in Venezuela, private institutions have state-of-the-art equipment and the most updated technology, whereas public hospitals don’t have the newest technology and take far longer to modernize. Public facilities and services always take much longer to update their technology compared to private ones. Additionally, Venezuela faces a unique issue rooted in corruption: funds allocated for technology, equipment, and supplies end up in the pockets of corrupt individuals. Materials and equipment are stolen from facilities, or money meant for these resources is misdirected into personal accounts, never reaching the services intended for citizens. This is why there are so many failures in electrical and public services—their poor quality stems from funds being diverted elsewhere instead of their rightful purposes. This is my opinion on the matter. At least in Venezuela, I will always prefer private services because they offer the best technology, superior care, and higher quality. They attend to people far more quickly. In Venezuela, at least, the contrast is stark. Thumbnail image maded using Bing AI and edited with Canva.com
"The greatness of a nation can be judged by how it treats its weakest member."
<< Mahatma Gandhi >>
Bing AI
Bing AI
Bing AI
This is my black cat "manclar", this account is to honor his dead (it happened years ago).
Visit the Neon Strike discord, the game of the future today!
(Discord)
Credits:
The text dividers were made by me using aseprite
Post translated from spanish to english using Deepseek AI
That is one difference between the private and public sectors, in terms of health care private sector prioritizes lives more than the public sector, imagine waiting for 8 hours in pain, and they are ignoring you.
Totally, if I had been injured in death, there had been 99% probability that I had died. In this country if you are poor, it is better that you die at home, at least you will be more comfortable. A hard reality. Thank you very much for going through my friendly post colleague.
!PIZZA
$PIZZA slices delivered:
@manclar(2/5) tipped @eunice9200
It's kind of sad that the government would allocate funds for a sector, yet people in charge of that sector would pocket the money and allow the infrastructure to rot. Also, it's also the government's fault for failing to follow up on projects they disburse money for. This is something that's also rampant in my country.
It is worrying that corruption allocates money that is for health in personal projects of politicians and people who do not have a private clinic, we run out of service. And it happens in several countries. I am very distressed, when we will find a solution to this? People continue to die in Venezuela, in Nigeria and everywhere.😧
if you change to Brazil, Argentina the text would still be truth lol
Sad that these things happen and how governments don't know how to administrate their own countries.
Until a reform is imposed on the law that condemn the corrupt, we will continue to have that problem, those who have to die are them, and not the people who have no resources. Sorry, but I hate the politicians with all my being.
!pizza
It is clear, my friend @manclar, that in a country like Venezuela public healthcare is horrible. There are many testimonies of it on Hive. If the question were in general, I am for neither public nor private healthcare. In a country like Spain public healthcare is at the service of creating demand for pharmaceuticals. Health care is not in function of the health of the population, but centered on the drug.
If health really mattered, many elderly people would not be alone and abandoned, nor would there be an undernourished population, or living in unhealthy houses, etc., etc., because health depends on the life we live, not on the drug.
Finally, in both public and private health care, there is an ever-increasing process of dehumanization. As hospitals follow profitability criteria, hospitals are run by managers, not by health personnel. This has the consequence that resources are allocated to the most “profitable” people and denied to the least “profitable”.
This is what I can say from Europe. A big hug.
Sadly the situation here in Venezuela is that inputs are stolen, from magnetic resonance machines, X -ray machines, to gauze, scalpel and etc. When people go to consultation, or the doctor is not or they have no water to wash the wound.
They have made health a business, anywhere in the world, not only in Europe, and those who are behind all this are the same as always, who are only interested in their pockets and not in people.
It is better to die at home because in a public service it is worse ... I have been bleeding for my crotch for 1 week, and I don't go to a public doctor, because death means for me, at least here in case I stay I live and I heal how I can, I suppose that any people with a minimum of reasoning would do the same.
What you say about dehumanization, I agree with you, need more human politicians and help older adults who do not have anyone or resources, because sadly people like us (I mean them and include myself, I am not putting you into ti), see you cornered by waiting for death in our homes, because we do not have the resources to treat ourselves or have the attention we require.
a hug.