About 50 doctors at Dario Contreras Hospital declared their facility to be in a state of emergency due to a lack of medical equipment and supplies. Hospital Director Daniel Joseph showed El Siglo a letter from medical residents in which they ask for a solution to 30 problems, including improvements to the emergency room. Doctors threatened to begin work stoppages, vigils and other protests if the Public Health department doesn?t offer some solutions. The head of the Dominican Medical Association, Dr. Alberti Estrella, says mortality at the hospital has increased due to a lack of supplies and equipment; he says five patients die every day at Dario Contreras. El Siglo reports the doctors say they often have to leave the hospital to search for thread, needles, bandages and other items that are in short supply. Responding to questions on the issue, President Mejia replied that the government can?t resolve all the country?s problems at once. He said Dario Contreras has been in a state of emergency for a hundred years and doctors strikes are nothing new there.
