Venezuela’s Maduro Vows to Train More Doctors as Covid Numbers Recede

Mérida, October 15, 2020 (venezuelanalysis.com) – Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro announced on Tuesday a new national plan for medical education.

Maduro unveiled the plan, named after renowned Venezuelan Doctor Jose Gregorio Hernandez, during the graduation ceremony of more than 3400 new doctors.

During the ceremony, the Head of State delivered diplomas to 2140 community doctors, 1301 specialists in integral medicine, 66 radiologists and 25 forensic pathologists.

The graduates will be immediately deployed in dealing with the Covid-19 pandemic.

The students attended the Hugo Chávez Venezuelan University of Health Sciences, created in 2014 by Maduro, with no tuition fees. Since its creation, 28 thousand doctors have emerged in different medical disciplines, Health Minister Carlos Alvarado revealed via video conference. Alvarado is currently recovering from the coronavirus.

Maduro went on to ask Communications Minister Freddy Nanez to boost a tele-education plan for remote education, with in-person classes currently on hold due to Covid-19.

He also insisted that telecommunications companies participate in this plan in order to guarantee connectivity for the country. “We have to increase resources to expand bandwidth and take internet services to all schools and universities,” Maduro stressed.

Venezuela continues with its Covid-19 measures in place, alternating weeks of flexible and strict quarantine. On Tuesday, Executive Vice President Delcy Rodríguez informed that after 212 days facing the pandemic Venezuela has totaled 84,391 cases, of which 76,262 have recovered (90 percent), 710 have died and 7,419 are currently active. Out of the active cases, 4,986 are in hospitals, 2,288 in local healthcare centers and 145 in private clinics.

The Caribbean country continues to fare much better than its neighbors, with daily cases hovering between 600 and 700 after peaking at 1200 in August.

On Sunday, Maduro revealed that a Chinese Covid-19 vaccine will soon arrive in the country for phase 3 of clinical trials. He assured that “thousands of volunteers” will participate and that once approved the vaccine will be “free for all”.

The Russian Sputnik V vaccine, currently under phase 3 of research as well, recently arrived in Venezuela.