07-03-2007, 09:09 PM
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El Destructor II
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Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: 11th& Sansom
Posts: 23,309
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Chavez threatens to Nationalize Hospitals
Quote:
If the owners of the private clinics don't want to obey the laws, then the private clinics will be nationalized," Chavez said in a nationally televised speech. "They will become part of the public health service."Venezuela has a two-tiered health system in which wealthier, insured patients often can afford prompter, better treatment at private hospitals.
"This is the evil of capitalism," Chavez said of the health care costs at private clinics. "We have to regulate this progressively, transforming the savage capitalist market into a market of solidarity."
The chief of one private clinic said Tuesday that such operations earn a minimal profit because revenue goes to covering costs and modernizing equipment.
"In our case, profits were only 5 percent of total revenue, and the profits at most of the clinics are roughly the same," Clinicas Caracas director Dr. Alexis Bello said in a telephone interview. "It's not a very profitable business."
Bello said the directors of major private clinics and government officials have been discussing regulations aimed at controlling costs, which he encouraged as an alternative to nationalization.
Chavez has expanded the public health system, building new clinics and refurbishing hospitals, but many public hospitals lack basic medical supplies and sufficient personnel. The Venezuelan leader has also sent thousands of Cuban and Venezuelan doctors to live in poor neighborhoods, where they provide free care.
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http://www.philly.com/philly/wires/a...hospitals.html
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