Dr. Milciades Albert, president of the Dominican branch of the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecologists, speaking at their first symposium in the country, revealed that 99% of maternal deaths in the country occur in public hospitals, which is making women fear being pregnant.
In private clinics a woman only occasionally dies giving birth, often due to the fact that complicated cases are sent to private clinics from public hospitals.
She also revealed that the maternal mortality rate in the country is 106 per 100,000 live births and that the rate has declined for adult mothers but not for teenage ones.
As far as cesarean sections are concerned, she said that although the World Health Organization says it should be around 15-20%, C-section births are at around 40% in the training hospitals in the country, showing a lack of skill on the part of the medical residents in the use of birth instruments.
She said that there was also a lack of qualified staff for assisting at births in private clinics and this, combined with the fact that the insurers have not improved the level of coverage for births, means that the level of caesareans is 90% of natural births.
www.listindiario.com/la-republica/2013/10/8/295028/Revelan-que-el-99-de-las-muertes-maternas-se-registra-en-hospitales