While the Organization of American States deliberates this week in Washington, D.C. during its 53rd General Assembly how to help Haiti, the Dominican Republic continues to feel the impact of the collapsed social services in that country. Listin Diario reports on the increase in Haitian women who cross the border to give birth and those that are already living here that seek free birthing services at Dominican public hospitals.
Listin Diario reports that most Haitian women get to the hospital without prior check ups. The Hospital Docente Universitario Maternidad Nuestra Señora de la Altagracia and the Hospital Materno Infantil San Lorenzo de Los Mina, located in the National District and the municipality of Santo Domingo Este, respectively, are the maternity hospitals in Greater Santo Domingo to which the largest number of Haitian women come every day, most in advanced phase of labor.
Juan Trinidad of the press staff at the Los Mina hospital said that La Altagracia and the Los Minas hospitals do not require any identification document or medical insurance to treat the women. “They do not need anything more than to present themselves here and we provide the care,” said Trinidad.
He said most women come without checkups and when already giving birth and this impacts the neonatal mortality rate in the hospitals. He said it is also frequent that the mothers, some of them teenagers, have consumed illicit substances, either with alcohol or nicotine, or eaten food not recommended for pregnancy, causing effects on the child that are only known when the baby is born.
“They start drinking alcohol and other substances, without being aware of the damaging effects during pregnancy, and since they do not have routine checkups during the months prior to delivery, no control can be made nor can the conditions of the child be known, because they do not have documents,” said Trinidad.
Listin Diario reporters were able to ascertain by the language spoken that most of the people in the wards seeking medical help at La Altagracia and Los Minas hospitals were not Dominicans. Most of these pregnant women are reluctant to talk when approached by the press, or do not understand the language, or are frightened by the possibility of being exposed and that some consequence, such as retaliation, may befall them. Likewise, the women are attended to regardless of whether they have any legal documentation even as to their identity.
According to a statistical report shared by the National Health Service (SNS) at the beginning of the week, about 15,000 births of children born to Haitian mothers were registered in the hospitals of the public network, only during the first five months of this year. There is a 9.1% increase over the same period in 2022.
From what the file shows, the behavior of Haitian nationality births shows a sustained growing trend in the period studied, from January to May of the years 2021 to 2023, with percentages ranging from 28.3%, 30.8% and 33.6%, respectively.
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Listin Diario
Listin Diario
22 June 2023