The high maternity costs covered by Dominican public hospitals to Haitian migrants is again making headlines. During the Monday, 3 February 2025 weekly press conference, President Luis Abinader, answering to a journalist question, said that his administration is in process of evaluation and establishing of methodologies to deal with the free social services issue now. With the collapse of social services in many areas of Haiti, the burden is on the Dominican Republic that offers these services for free to the Haitians, so far. “What I can say is that given the situation in Haiti and the international position regarding Haiti, the cases of our public services should not continue free and we need to put restrictions between charging or access and this is being evaluated and we are looking into the methodologies,” he said.
Poor Dominicans pay basic fees when using public hospital services. These are not charged to the Haitians, including those who come just to give birth or for care in emergency services and undocumented Haitians already living in the country.
Statistics for 2024 show that 32,967 Haitian mothers gave birth at Dominican public hospitals in 2024. The free service is a major draw. Most Haitian women enter through the emergency room.
In a recent report in Listin Diario, health expert Dr. Pedro Ramirez Slaibe estimates at RD$32,419 the cost of the procedure, and thus the Dominican taxpayers have picked up a tab of RD$1.07 billion for the Haitian families just for birthing in 2024.
In the Dominican Republic there are practically entire hospitals that mainly service Haitian women, namely the Los Minas and La Altagracia hospitals in Greater Santo Domingo. The increasing demand has displaced many local residents in several border provinces.
Read more in Spanish:
Listin Diario
Diario Libre
La Semanal 3 February Min 36
5 February 2025