The Dominican Medical Association (CMD) disagrees with health centers that charge a deposit to emergency patients, saying that this puts the patients’ lives at risk. According to Diario Libre, Enriquillo Matos, who spoke on behalf of the Board of Directors, said it was not right for some health centers to require these advance payments before admitting patients to their emergency rooms. Matos instructed CMD representatives at ARS-CMD health risk managers not to affiliate with or to withdraw affiliation of health centers that continue demanding payments from patients prior to hospitalization. He emphasized that it is every physician’s duty to respect human life in all circumstances and anyone who fails to do so is in breach of ethics and the General Health Law.