Dozens of items relating to cardiovascular problems and their treatment are becoming scarce on the Dominican market since the government levied an 18% value added tax called the Tax on the Transfer of Industrialized Goods (ITBIS in Spanish) and other tariffs on these items when they were imported. Directors of the cardiovascular centers at hospitals and clinics have called on the government to revoke the decision because it is affecting cardiac patients who already have difficulties getting access to good healthcare.
Leading doctors in the field, including the head of the Dominican Society for Cardiology and doctors at the Salvador Gautier, Cedimat and Cecanot hospitals also raised red flags about the implications of this tax.