According to Health Minister Altagracia Guzman Marcelino the country is going to change the curriculum taught in medical schools to reduce the high level of infant mortality. The Minister stated that some of the deaths of newborns can be attributed to the almost 100,000 Cesarean sections carried out in the country each year.
Director of the National Health Service, Doctor Nelson Rodriguez Monegro, said that a shift in instruction is needed to reach out to physicians and health care providers who attend births. He said the natal and neonatal care deficiencies in the hospitals are often due to poor training of doctors and other health care professionals not adequately applying the rules of safe and proven procedures in the maternity wards.
Guzman Marcelino assured that once the training is improved, with the assistance of the Ministry of Higher Education who would join the National Board of Medical Residencies, there would be an improvement in natal and neonatal care.
She said that in her opinion, in the future, that more natural births are carried out in hospitals as opposed to cesarean sections, could be a sign that the overall care that the mother and her baby receive from the hospital is improving.
