A total of 23 girls between the ages of 10 and 14 are pregnant and receiving treatment at the Juan Pablo Pina hospital in San Cristobal.
The hospital director, Miguel Geraldino, said that none of the girls, who come from Ocoa, Bani and Yaguate, are inpatients, but they are receiving periodic consultations.
The director of the gynecological department at the public hospital, Natalia Mendez, said that the main reason for such a high number of pregnancies amongst young girls was due to lack of parental responsibility, and that at least one of the girls, who is just 13, had been raped by her brother in law, but the family did not want to make an official complaint to the authorities.
www.hoy.com.do/provincias/2013/8/19/494715/Al-hospital-de-San-Cristobal-asisten-23-ninas-entre-10-y-14-anos-de-edad