La Paz, August 12 (RHC)-- René Sahonero, technical advisor to the Bolivian de facto government's Health Ministry, said that "it is not worth it" for doctors to sacrifice themselves for people "who do not value life" -- referring to citizens mobilized in the framework of the general strike that has been going on for a week.

"It is not fair that even undisciplined, irrational and I do not know what word to use.  They are blocking and they are going to have the need for oxygen.  Would it be worthwhile for doctors to sacrifice themselves for these people?  I don't think so," Sahonero said Tuesday to local media.

"I think the doctors should stop treating these people who do not value people's lives," he added.  The former director of the Departmental Health Service (Sedes) of La Paz considered that the same people who block the vehicles with oxygen tanks to transport them to the cities will at some point be the ones who need oxygen to survive.

Sahonero also called the protest actions by different sectors of Bolivian civil society "criminal", demanding general elections in September and other social demands.

Bolivian citizens have reacted on social networks by denouncing the official's call, calling it a violation of the human right to health.  The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, adopted by the United Nations (UN) in 1948, declares public and universal health as a human right.

"Everyone has the right to (...) health (...) and medical care", appears in the first paragraph of Article 25 of the aforementioned document, of which Bolivia is a signatory since its foundation.