Venezuela's U.S. dollar shortage puts health sector in intensive care

http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/03/21/us-venezuela-economy-health-idUSBREA2K0O420140321

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Venezuela »
CARACAS (Reuters) - While hemophilia sufferer Sergio Tovar lay in agony for five days at a hospital in Venezuela, his friends and family scoured hospitals and pharmacies looking for life-saving drugs.

Eventually a cousin, Jenny Sequeda, helped find a substitute for the protein coagulant Tovar needs for his blood condition.

Almost everywhere they went in the southwestern state of Apure it was the same story: a lack of dollars meant importers had stopped purchasing the medicine.

"Everyone who has hemophilia, their life is at risk," said Sequeda, whose 6-year-old son also suffers from the illness.

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The shortage of medicines is part of broader economic turmoil that forces Venezuelans to routinely form hours-long lines outside shops to buy staples such as cooking oil, flour and milk.