Article: One baby?s story shows why Haiti is no place to give birth

[SKing]

A good chunk of that is due to the influx into the Dominican public health system of perhaps thousands of illegal Haitian women every year with the purpose of giving birth. Many of those babies are born with all sorts of health problems and deficiencies that could had been prevented had proper medical attention been sought during the pregnancy. Since that's not the case with most Haitian women, nothing can be done to prevent the death of their babies or even the mothers. Often times, when a Haitian mother-to-be crosses the border and arrives at a Dominican hospital, that's the first time in their entire lives that they receive medical help.

Add to that a widespread healthcare system, but with resources that would had been adequate had it not been for the unchecked added demand from the illegals. Dominican public hospitals are not allowed to turn away people in emergency situations.

This isn't the only health issue that has been impacted by the influx, others such as malaria infections, cholera and many other diseases has seen a spike due to the migration problem. At a time even polio made a come back after decades of having been eradicated by the Dominican government.

Financially, all of this falls on the back of the Dominican middle class, since they are the ones that pay the most taxes (they account for a huge % of consumption, from which most tax collection is done).

It's too easy to say that the Dominican government doesn't do enough, when the reality is that it has done more than enough. The situation is just too much!

If the maternal mortality rate (and infant mortality rate) was segregated between Dominican mothers and foreigners, it would clearly show the impact the illegal immigration from Haiti is having in the system.

I agree with this to a point.
I do wholeheartedly agree that the impact of Haitian women going to DR to give birth contributes to the rates of Maternal mortality in the country but not maybe to the extent that NALs or someone else like him (PICHARDO) may want me to believe. My thoughts are based only on the reasons for the deaths alone. I would think that if the majority of the maternal deaths in Haiti are from pre-eclampsia/eclampsia then it would make sense to believe that if these women were the sole or even the majority reason for the increased rates in DR then there would be more maternal deaths in DR due to preclampsia/eclampsia and this is not true.
Here is a quote from NALS "Since that's not the case with most Haitian women, nothing can be done to prevent the death of their babies or even the mothers. Often times, when a Haitian mother-to-be crosses the border and arrives at a Dominican hospital, that's the first time in their entire lives that they receive medical help."
This is a true statement, so what is the excuse for the women dying in DR? Dominican women who have had access to and used the healthcare system. Haiti cannot help their high Maternal mortality rate as the women have no access to healthcare and arrive at the hospital sometimes too late, but what is the DR's excuse for having a rate 10x that of the US or Canada with the leading cause being infection and hemorrhage right in the hospital? A country where 98% of women receive prenatal care should not hold the maternal mortality rate that it does, least of all because of infection and hemorrhage....2 of the MOST preventable causes of maternal mortality and morbitity.
NALS states "If the maternal mortality rate (and infant mortality rate) was segregated between Dominican mothers and foreigners, it would clearly show the impact the illegal immigration from Haiti is having in the system." and I say, it would also clearly show what the majority of Haitian women who deliver in the DR are dying from, and what the Dominican women delivering in the DR are dying from.
One cause I can understand, one I cannot...............

SHALENA