President Luis Abinader appointed Dr. Daniel Enrique de Jesús Rivera Reyes his minister of Public Health. The appointment is in Decree 132-21.
Rivera was named three days after President Abinader removed Dr. Plutarco Arias following the Covid-19 syringes tender scandal. The Anti Administrative Corruption Agency (Pepca) is investigating the cancelled tender.
Rivera Reyes is a founding partner, together with Dr. Plutarco Arias, of the Clínica Unión Médica del Norte, the country’s largest private medical center with more than 600 doctors and where 160,000 people are treated every month.
A press release from the Presidency explains Dr. Rivera has directed the Pontifical Catholic Madre y Maestra University (PUCMM) medical school on three separate occasions.
Dr. Rivera is a graduate of the PUCMM, Santiago campus, with specialization in Internal Medicine from the Regional University Hospital José María Cabral y Báez.
He has a specialty in Intensive Care and a Master’s Degree in Management and Planning of Care Centers and Services from the ABC Hospital, American British Cowdray, in Mexico, and a specialty in Hospital Management, in Barcelona Spain, among others.
For more than 30 years, he has served in both the public and private sectors and held various positions at the PUCMM, including that of the Medical School director on three occasions.
Rivera is currently the president of its Board of Directors of the Union Medica since 2018 and is vice president of the Association of Private Clinics (Adeclip).
The new health minister has also been the vice president of the Dominican Medical Association (CMD) of Santiago and is a senior member of Modern Revolutionary Party (PRM).
The appointment of Dr. Rivera comes when delays in communication are affecting the rolling out of the National Vaccine Plan. At present, people are disoriented and the information has been trickling out as vaccines are becoming available.
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Diario Libre
1 March 2021