The media continues to report on the deficiencies in the renovations at the leading Santo Domingo trauma center, the Dr. Dario Contreras Hospital.
Doctors at the hospital have rejected a proposed solution to the lack of facilities for children in the remodeled facilities that would call for installing the pediatrics area on the fourth floor. Dr. Maximo Periche, in charge of pediatrics, said that the area only has capacity for 18 beds when the minimum required for meeting the demand is 30 beds, and there are no bathrooms. He said a nursing station would also need to be built. The physician said that the fourth floor does not have the conditions to treat adult patients either. He said in the mean time the recovery area has been prepared to care for the children.
Dr. Dario Contreras Hospital director Jose Gabriel Aponte told the media that he was hopeful that the corrections to the areas would be made.
Hospital staff members have criticized the renovations, which despite a budget increase from RD$886.5 million to RD$1.5 billion, led to many areas with reduced capacity to serve the patients, an increase of more than RD$614 million.
Hoy reports that Constructora Langa was initially assigned the construction, but after it had developed a plan together with medical staff and begun construction, engineers from the OISOE department of the Presidency discarded these plans and made changes, resulting in the current situation that doctors say shows improvisation and lack of knowledge. Hoy reports that Langa built one area at a cost of RD$20.4 million, but the new group of engineers contracted by OISOE demolished it.
The deficiencies include the lack of hand-washing basins, lack of bathrooms in doctor and patient areas, and even the construction of a cafeteria in front of the hospital morgue.
An investigative report by Alicia Ortega also featured the story in her Monday 25 May 2015 program and said that some changes are underway to comply with a hospital constructions guide prepared by the Ministry of Public Health.
Pediatras rechazan cuarta planta del Darío; obreros corrigen errores