“During the last six years, after the oil strike and the 2002 coup d’état, which left a 29 percent extreme poverty index in our country, the figure has shown a remarkable improvement, reaching 7 percent by the end of 2009, exceeding by 20 points,” said the Minister of People’s Power for Labor María Cristina Iglesias, during a visit to the Pérez de León Hospital, in Caracas.

Pérez de León Hospital is a medical center which is being remodeled by the Bolivarian government to offer public healthcare services to the population on Miranda –the second populated state of Venezuela.

According to Iglesias, this reduction has been possible thanks the government’s fight against poverty through education, health, food policies, among others, reported the Venezuelan News Agency.

During her visit to the newly-remodeled hospital, the minister said that 6,700 red-brick Barrio Adentro clinics, 4,700 medical centers, over 3,000 odontology centers, and 459 popular ophthalmology centers have been built to offer high-quality healthcare services to the Venezuelan population. Barrio Adentro is a social program financed by the Venezuelan government to cover the population’s health care needs.

Iglesias added that the new hospital will have three areas, 116 beds, an intensive care unit, a trauma shock room, a new morgue, a residence service, and pediatric services. “Several benefits for the Venezuelan population,” she said.

The Minister of People’s Power for Health Eugenia Sader also attended the event, and explained that the investment exceeds $13 million. Additionally, she added that the work is 80 percent completed in most of the facilities.

Both officials highlighted that the hospital’s conditions will be excellent and that it will be operative in 14 months.

National Radio of Venezuela/AVN/Venezuelan Embassy to the U.S./September 3, 2010