Public Health Minister Rafael Sanchez Cardenas wants internists, obstetrics and gynecologists and family practitioners to be sent to primary care units (Unidades de Attention Primaria). He said these specialists could solve upfront most of the patient cases.
The big change needs to be to a model where 80% of the demands of hospitals and private clinics can be attended at the primary care units at a lower cost, Sanchez Cardenas said in the interview with Diario Libre. He estimated savings at 44%.
The president of the Dominican Medical Guild (CMD), Waldo Ariel Suero says he agrees with the plan for more generalists at the primary care unit, but does not agree with relocating specialists already working in hospitals to the primary care units. He said more doctors should be hired and employed in the primary care units.
He also said the public health system has in place a single electronic medical record (Expediente Integral de Salud) for patients. But this is used by less than 20% of physicians. He said most of the physicians have been adverse to file digital records. He said the best case of use has been at the hospital in Boca Chica, where 57% of physicians have registered online the data of the patients.
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Diario Libre
Diario Libre
17 December 2019