86
We are near a big city, Concepción, where the nearest hospital is located. When our
people get ill we think of taking them there, but we suffer a lot, because we know that
without money we are not going to get assistance, there are no medicines for the poor,
they only provide you with the prescription to buy the medicines in pharmacies, and the
little money that we sometimes have is not enough, we have to request help through
some radio broadcast that campaigns, this is the only way, when people of good will help
us.220
In our situation, in case of illness or death, for example, our community is totally
unprotected. There are no records of births or deaths occurring in our communities. The
State disregards us for being indigenous and we are discriminated. We cannot even get
assistance when we manage to get to the health centers because we do not have any
money or because they tell us that “there are no doctors.” Furthermore, many of us do
not have identity cards. Many times we want to resort to our knowledge of traditional
medicine, but we cannot get to gather medicinal herbs because these are to be found
inside the wire-fenced lands and we must contemplate disease and death with
resignation.221
175. On the other hand, the Court notes that in spite of such difficulties, some
persons managed to get to the health centers and received some kind of medical
care, but it was insufficient, untimely or incomplete. The newborns NN Galarza and
NN González (supra para. 73(74)(1) and (10),) both suffering from tetanus, were
released by their respective treating doctors since “nothing could be done” for them.
They died in the Community “with the typical rigidity of those who suffer from
tetanus.” The brothers Eduardo and Eulalio Cáceres, (supra para. 73(74)(3) and
(3).) died of pneumonia. The former was admitted in the Concepción hospital, but
did not get any medicines because “the mother could not buy [them].” He died in
hospital eight days after admission. After Eduardo’s death, “the mother was
requested to take away Eulalio from the hospital if she was not going to buy the
medicines and they issued the hospital certificate of discharge.” Six days after this,
Eulalio died in the Community. The girls González-Aponte and Jenny Toledo (supra
para. 73(74)(6) and (8)) were discharged from the medical center they were in “with
scarce health improvement” the former, and the latter “without any medication.” The
González-Aponte girl died 8 days after this, of enterocolitis / dehydration, whereas
Jenny, who was apparently in good conditions, had a relapse and “there was no
opportunity to take her back” to hospital. She died of dehydration. Esteban Jorge
Alvarenga, a newborn, (supra para. 73(74)(28)) who suffered from dyspnoea and
respiratory failure could be taken to the Concepción hospital but he was not admitted
there. The treating doctor provided a medical prescription that, “due to her scant
resources, it was impossible for his mother to buy, and the newborn died a few days
later.” Silvia Adela Chávez, a newborn, (supra para. 73(74)(27)) was assisted by a
“medical delegation” which did not provide her with any medicines and
recommended her mother to get such medicines form a “Sanitary Registry.” The
newborn died a month later. Belén Galarza, the mother of Arnaldo and Fátima
Galarza (supra para. 73(74)(29) and (30),) had a post-delivery hemorrhage that
extended for over fifteen days, for which reason she was admitted to hospital
together with Arnaldo and Fátima, who had “a malnutrition condition,” since they had
not had any intake “for at least a week.” Arnaldo could never recover his strength
and died. Fátima, though showing a certain improvement, died a month after her
brother. Finally, the boy Derlis Armando Torres died of cachexia (supra para.
73(74)(12)) and the boy Juan Ramón González died of pneumonia (supra para.
220
Cf. Affidavit of Elsa Ayala, dated January 17, 2006, supra note 119.
221
Cf. Affidavit of Leonardo González-Fernández, dated January 17, 2006, supra note 145.