THESE disturbing photographs taken in a Venezuelan hospital lay bare the suffering of vulnerable mentally ill people as the country implodes.

Hospital services across the stricken socialist South American nation are going through a widespread crisis amid a shortage of medicine and the low salaries of doctors and nurses who depend on the state.

9 A mental health patient at the Caracas Psychiatric Hospital lies on a dirty mattress and excrement surrounds him Credit: EPA

9 Mental health patients stand behind the bars of their room Credit: EPA

9 A neglected mental health patient lies on a bed Credit: EPA

9 Hygiene rules clearly no longer apply mainly because cleaners cannot be paid for Credit: EPA

Rooms at the 126 year-old Caracas Psychiatric Hospital are filthy. Bunks are not even labelled with the patients' names.

Cockroaches and other insects can be seen crawling the walls, creeping into patients' and nurses' beds.

An absence of maintenance personnel means garbage, human excrement and dead insects build up in rooms, bathrooms and courtyards of the sprawling sanatorium.

What is going on in Venezuela? Despite having the world's largest oil reserves and once being South America's richest nation, it is now one of the world’s poorest countries. When oil prices crashed in 2014, the Venezuelan government had not used the prosperous years to build up reserves to fall back on. Large areas of the collapsing country have been left in the dark for days at a time by power outages. People have begun to starve amid food shortages. But rather than raise taxes or cut spending, the Maduro government printed more money, which in turn caused hyperinflation at an astonishing 1.7 million per cent, meaning the currency and people's savings are close to worthless. More than three million Venezuelans have fled in recent years. Maduro has strongly resisted calls for an early vote or that he leave power early before his six-year second term ends in 2025, sparking huge anti-government demonstrations.

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The crisis at the hospital has become part of a public debate in a country that has been shaken by the biggest political and economic crisis in its modern history.

The largest wing in this hospital from hell has been without power for 20 months.

Blackouts are common across the country even though it has massive oil reserves.

9 A patient reaches out of the window of her room Credit: EPA

9 These two men are not prisoners but unwell people Credit: EPA

9 Insects crawl into patients' beds and scurry through the spaces where nurses rest Credit: EPA

9 This woman has been forgotten by her society which struggles to feed itself Credit: EPA

9 A view of the emergency room where patients are taken into after admission Credit: EPA

Venezuela hit by second massive power outage in two weeks as 91% of country's power goes offline devastating hospital and water supply

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