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Health System Failure Leaves Venezuelan Cancer Patients in a Bind

Luisana Solano

   CARACAS - A breast cancer diagnosis is terrifying enough at any time.
   But for 49-year-old Grecia Solis, the arduous choices faced by all
   cancer patients were complicated by the crippling decline of
   Venezuela's public health facilities.

   After her diagnosis two years ago, doctors recommended surgery,
   chemotherapy and radiotherapy. Before the oil-producing nation's steep
   economic decline of recent years, those services would have been
   available free of charge or for a nominal fee at a state-run public
   hospital.

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