The crumbling of the public health system in the Dominican Republic, due to lack of timely government funding, has produced the end to the services of the Luis Eduardo Aybar Public Hospital’s Pearl F. Ort Burn Unit. Built through a donation from an American philanthropist, the hospital prior to 2002 had been regarded as a model for this type of medical assistance in the Caribbean. Staff at the hospital are no longer admitting new burn patients because of lack of supplies. The physicians have threatened to quit and hand over the center to the public health authorities because they say that without supplies they cannot offer even basic services to patients. The personnel at the center had received special training as part of the donation. Health Minister Jose Rodriguez Soldevila said that he has staff waiting to replace those who resign.