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Daily News - 9 February 2000
Malaria under control in East Coast
The Centro para el Control de Enfermedades Tropicales (CENCET), the organization in charge of tropical diseases in the DR, issued a report on 4 February whereby it states that it is no longer recommending malaria prophylaxis for tourists visiting the East Coast. The report was mailed out to health organizations around the world.
In the past four weeks no case of malaria has been registered in the La Altagracia province, where a malaria outbreak took place last year. Intensive efforts to control malaria in the area thus have been successful.
The Dominican government health authorities now only recommend prophylaxis for those visitors that will be traveling to rural areas.
It continues to recommend that visitors use insect repellents at night when going beyond resort confines, especially when visiting rural areas at night.
The CENCET says that preventive measures implemented at the time of the outbreak to interrupt transmission of the disease, including intensified surveillance and vector control, will be continued to avoid a repeat of the unfortunate situation. The outbreak occurred due to an increase in Haitian construction workers building new hotels in the area.
The CENCET continues to recommend that tourists that may come down with a fever during their stay or within the next 15 days after returning visit a doctor and explain they have visited a tropical country.
From 31st week of the year when the outbreak started through 49th week of the year when it was controlled, there were 359 cases of malaria in the La Altagracia province, 77% occurring in construction workers, 6.5% in employees and 17% in area residents. In the entire Dominican Republic, in 1999, there were 3,590 cases detected, of which 1,845 (51.3%) were migrant Haitian workers, 1,730 (48.3%) were Dominicans, and 15 (0.4%) were persons of other nationalities.
For more background information, see earlier reports at www.dr1.com/daily/malaria011900.shtml
Also, Health Canada at (http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/hpb/lcdc/osh/maldr_e.html)
Or the US government Center for Disease Control page at http://www.cdc.gov
Loans for small business
The Fernández government council approved disbursing RD$430 million in loans this first semester to help small business. The program is known as Programa de Financiamiento para la Micro y la Pequeña Empresa. It is intended to benefit 6,500 projects that will generate 24,000 new direct and indirect jobs. The government also announced an additional RD$80 million was allotted to the micro business program executed by Comunidad Digna in poor barrios of Santo Domingo. This fund is intended to benefit 20,000 small businesses and generate 30,000 jobs in those slum areas.
National Competitiveness Plan
The Fernández government council announced it has assigned RD$77.7 million to be used to implement the National Competitiveness Program. The program will help stimulate the production of goods for export. The program has the support of the Monitor Group, a US organization. The US Agency AID is also supporting this program.
President Fernández at Conference on Corruption
President Leonel Fernández participated in the Third Conference on the Prevention of Corruption. During the conference, President Fernandez defended the co-existence of the government being able to choose contractors of works ("grado a grado"), and the holding public tenders to choose other contractors. Fernández said that there are many projects that need to be carried out in the short term and the holding of tenders may delay their execution. Furthermore, he said that if all projects had to go to a public contest, then only a small group of contractors would benefit. He explained that only those with the most resources and experience would win the tenders. Nevertheless, he criticized Congress for not passing a bill sent by the Executive Branch that would establish that 70% of all government works require tenders, while 30% be directly assigned by the government. The Executive Branch also submitted a bill that would regulate the purchasing of goods and services by the state, that has met with congressional indifference.
Fernández, in an improvised speech, said that he did not believe there was systematic corruption in the DR. He said there is corruption on an individual basis, but denied the state is affected by an organized system of corruption.
Also participating in the conference, PRD presidential candidate Hipólito Mejía said that the allotting of contracts by the so-called "grado a grado" method is a flagellum that has become part of Dominican culture. He said this has resulted in hefty losses to society due to inefficiency, overvaluations, opportunity cost and construction of non-priority infrastructures. He feels that political will is needed to end corruption. "The success of being able to confront corruption also depends on the existence of institutional mechanisms that provide the judicial and administrative framework to prevent and penalize these damaging acts," he said.
So far, denouncing these in the press is the only penalty to corruption in the DR. While they are known, corrupt government officers have been protected by politicians who have needed alliances to win elections.
The conference, which took place at the auditorium of the Central Bank, was sponsored by the Procuraduría General de la República (attorney general's office), the Voluntariado Nacional para la Prevención de la Corrupción and the Contraloría General de la República.
Social Security tender scandal
Hoy newspaper published a new report on the case by which the Instituto Dominicano de Seguros Sociales held a tender and then chose the contractor that had bid the largest amount to carry out the new wing to the IDSS Presidente Estrella Ureña Maternity Hospital in Santiago. Henry Sadhalá, president of the Confederación Patronal, a business organization, denounced that government and labor union representatives recommended the higher bidder, contrary to the better interests of the Social Security Institute. The IDSS is primarily funded by contributions made by private business. The local engineers and architects college, CODIA has also asked for an explanation of the irregular situation.
Yesterday, Antonio Espín, the business sector representative on the board of the IDSS resigned from the post. In his letter of resignation he recommended that the business sector also leave the IDSS because to stay would be to continue to be an accomplice to the present corruption.
In a letter to Celso Marranzini, president of the National Council of Business (CONEP), he says that a group of politicians and labor unions have ganged together to supposedly defend the rights of laborers when in reality they are in a frivolous way spending the money that is primarily contributed by Dominican business. He said that his proposals to improve the IDSS met with rejection by government politicians and labor unions that control the institution.
Preparing for natural disasters
The South Atlantic Command of the US Armed Forces will invest US$2.5 million in the Operación Ejercicio Fuerzas Aliadas Humanitarias. The Dominican government will contribute RD$2 million (US$125,000). General Jose Antonio de los Santos, in charge of the Centro de Operación de Emergencia made the announcement. The Operación Ejercicio Fuerzas Aliadas Humanitarias is a giant relief practice effort to prepare regional countries for major natural disasters.
DR will be site of the natural disaster emergency training and prevention events from 14 to 25 February. These will take place at the Dirección de Entrenamiento Militar at the San Isidro Air Force base.
Colonel Luis Torres, of the US South Command explained that 75 computers will be used in the exercise. More than 500 persons will participate, including civilians and that work in disaster and relief centers as well as military coming from the Caribbean, North, South and Central America.
The operation will simulate disaster caused by a tropical depression, a hurricane and an earthquake.
Expo Ideas to highlight Dominican inventions
Expo Ideas, sponsored by the Instituto Dominicano de Tecnología Industrial (Indotec) opened registrations for the II Fair of Ideas and Inventions. The fair will take place 10-15 April at Indotec. Cash prices totaling RD$200,000 in five categories are set aside. 130 proposals and 105 inventors presented their ideas in the first Expo Ideas held in 1997. In 1998, Indotec sent three of the winners to the First World Inventors Olympics held in Budapest, Hungary with the participation of 35 countries. The DR was only Latin American country to participate. Two of the three Dominicans, Rafael Ben and Hector Antigua, won a silver medal each.
Shameful waste of technical program fund
The state university, UASD, confirmed that it misused funds provided by the UASD-BID-Fundapec for a technical education program. Personnel to be employed in tourism and free zone industries would have been trained by the program.
Miguel Rosado, rector of the UASD, confirmed technical and inappropriate management of the RD$7.2 million disbursed by the Inter American Development Bank, RD$17 million by the central government and RD$8 million contributed by the UASD (which is funded by the government) was wasted. The moneys would have gone for the construction of a new building and furnishings for the technical program, planning, and staff.
The program which was signed in 1994 had to be suspended in 1998 when it was apparent that the bureaucracy that the program had created was engulfing the funds.
Rosado admitted that he found that those in charge of the program had hired the wrong technical people resulting in the failure of the program. Under his administration he put an end to the program that was draining state university resources, after the IDB had suspended funding in 1997.
He said he is negotiating with the government how the money would be paid to Fundapec, the local funding organization.
Frederich Bergés, president of Fundapec, lamented the failure of the UASD at managing the program, which he said would have succeeded at any of the private universities. He said they have funded programs at 26 Dominican universities and the UASD is their first failure.
Puerto Plata mountain dwellers could suffer from landslide
The Listín Diario reported that 117 families that live alongside the Isabel de Torres Mountain in Puerto Plata could suffer a similar fate to that which recently occurred in Venezuela. Residents in the Urbanización Ginebra Arzeno of Puerto Plata have built their homes along the slope of the mountain that is suffering from erosion. Ernesto Peralta Ramos of the neighbor association called out for government help. He said that 75 of the 117 homes in the Urbanización Ginebra are showing cracks in the walls, due to heavy rains that have been falling since 1998. He admits they should not have built their homes alongside the mountain's slopes, but asked for government help saying they could not afford to relocate on their own.
TWA flies to Punta Cana
TWA flew its first flight to Punta Cana yesterday. The airline has started flights to Punta Cana from New York (JFK Airport) and New Jersey (Newark Airport).
The airline expects to transport 300,000 tourists in 2000, which could contribute to a 40% increase in traffic to the East Coast airport.
Travel Impressions is offering attractive four-day and three night hotel and air packages.
The TWA flights depart from New York on Monday and Friday at 10:55 am arriving Punta Cana at 3:30 pm. The return flight departs Punta Cana at 4:35 pm arriving NY at 7:25 pm.
The Newark flights leave on Monday and Friday at 10:45 am arriving at 3:30 pm, with the return flight at 4:55 pm arriving at 7:50 pm.
Volunteers needed for Pan Am Games
José Joaquín Puello, president of the organizing committee of the Santo Domingo Pan Am Games, said that he expects to recruit 20,500 volunteers to work on the organization of the 2003 games.
They will be recruiting volunteers from schools, universities, the Armed Forces, the police, the clubs. Also, from the Civil Defense corps, ministries of Tourism, Sports, Education, Public works and the Armed Forces. Also, from the Dominican Red Cross, the Firemen, Jaycees, churches, boy scout organizations, business organizations and non-governmental organizations.
Padre Sergio Abreu will direct the volunteers' organization, assisted by Hector Rodríguez.
Volunteers will be needed to assist in the games administration, communications, entertainment, media, promotion, special events, protocol, accreditation, organization, technology, languages, health, transport and other departments.
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