In a seemingly never-ending string of unfortunate events, the Social Security (IDSS) hospital Presidente Estrella Urena had to stop all service because of a total lack of electricity. The president of the Santiago Medical Group and the head of the local chapter of the Social Security Nurses? Association added that there was not even any diesel fuel for the emergency generator to function. Doctor Rafael Castillo Vargas announced that all service areas of the hospital are in critical situations, and said that the government authorities are responsible for the very dangerous environment for the patients. According to the medical team, the electricity only comes on for a few hours in the morning and then again briefly in the afternoon. While the doctors have managed to keep the outpatient clinics open, and some patients are even admitted, the fact that there is no fuel for the generator ?cuts to the bone.?
According to El Caribe, the hospital crisis has delayed surgeries for as long as four months in some cases. For the same reasons that are punishing the Estrella Urena hospital in Santiago, surgeons at the Luis E Aybar hospital in Santo Domingo have had to postpone non-elective surgeries because of a lack of fuel for the emergency generators and a lack of materials with which to work on patients. One source told El Caribe that there was not any drinking water available at that hospital, nor was there any pure water for the dialysis machines, which patients must purchase themselves.