Rayma Suprani says she was axed after representing Chávez's signature as a flatline heartbeat in protest over health system

A Venezuelan cartoonist says she has been fired from one of the country's largest newspapers for a sketch satirising the country's health system.

Rayma Suprani's cartoon, published in El Universal on Wednesday, showed a normal-looking electrocardiogram under the heading "Health", and below it the late former president Hugo Chávez's signature merging with a flatlining heartbeat under the words "Health in Venezuela".

The cartoon combined two nationally sensitive subjects: the legacy of Chávez, and the socialist government's management of the healthcare system.

Medical workers have long claimed the economic chaos engulfing the country has led to chronic shortages of drugs and medical supplies

Since Chávez's death of cancer last year, his signature, always printed in red, has become a symbol of loyalty to the leader, who ruled Venezuela for nearly 15 years. It has been stamped across buildings and can often be seen tattooed on the arms of his supporters.

Hours after the cartoon was published, Suprani was sacked, the artist told a local radio station. "My immediate boss called me and told me he didn't like my caricature and I was out," she said. "We've become a country where if you say things, have your own criteria and try to provoke reflection, it's not well viewed."

El Universal, where Suprani worked for 19 years, was sold this summer, to a little-known Spanish company called Epalistica, which employees at the newspaper allege is a front for a pro-government group of investors.

Since the newspaper changed hands, its previously anti-government stance has softened. Several of its columnists have quit or been fired and, according to the newspaper's vice-president of information, Elides Rojas, more staff could be on their way out. "What follows? Commentators quitting. Less readers. Fewer ads. Well, we'll all go", Rojas tweeted.

As news of her dismissal circulated, Suprani took to Twitter to declare her commitment to her work exposing the country's woes. "To my readers and followers, I tell you that we will carry on through other, smaller avenues but with endless creativity," she said.