President Hipólito Mejía traveled to the East over the weekend to be present at the inaugural of the first Hospiten clinic for travelers in the Punta Cana-Bávaro area. The Spanish hospital chain opened a 64-bed hospital to serve tourists visiting the area. The Bavaro-Punta Cana area has more than 17,000 hotel rooms, and an estimated 20,000 tourists can be in the area at any given time. The hospital is a RD$300 million investment, in part financed by the International Finance Corporation of the World Bank. It offers sophisticated emergency room services. In the past, those seriously ill were transported to Santo Domingo, the capital city. Most cases will now be able to be handled on site. The new hospital was built 500 meters from the Cruce de Verón, and is a five-minute drive from the Punta Cana International Airport. The Spanish chain operates five similar hospitals in the Canary Islands in Spain. Hospital administrator Jose Manuel Felipe said that 95% of the staff is Dominican. He announced the hospital will soon start a nursing school, working with the Universidad Autonoma de Santo Domingo and the Universidad Central del Este. (9 October 2000)
