The Abinader administration wants to find a solution to the Haitian birthing tourism dilemma that significantly raises the local public health costs. Dominican public hospitals are free and offer better medical care. There is a clandestine birthing tourism business that drops pregnant women off at Dominican hospitals just in time for these to give birth.
Dr. Mario Lama, director of the National Health Service, and himself an obstetrician/gynecologist, says Dominican public hospitals cannot deny service to anyone arriving via the emergency room. He explains that the last-minute care these women demand increases the maternal mortality rate in the country. He said that 47% of all maternal deaths are to foreign women this year, and all are Haitians with the exception of one.
Dr. Lama explains that maternal deaths are up 32% this year, with 170 deaths. The deaths are to women 25 to 35 years, with an average age of 31, and most have occurred at public hospitals in Santiago, Duarte (San Francisco de Macoris) and Santo Domingo.
He says the number of Haitians seeking to give birth here is on the rise. Why give birth in Haiti when they can give birth at Dominican public hospitals for free and with better medical care. Dr. Lama favors that a maternity hospital be built on the Haitian side of the border. Years past, the European Union offered to contribute to the building of the hospital. The Dominican government offered to help staff the hospital. The Haitian government did not accept the offer.
Public Health Minister Plutarco Arias said recently that the situation is unsustainable. He says the Dominican Republic cannot continue to be the solution to the health problems in Haiti. He called for better migration controls.
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Diario Libre
26 November 2020