The doctors leading the associations believe that many specialists feel impotent when they realize that the drugs required to manage and avoid the complications of diabetes are not affordable for the Dominican population.

To address the issue, SODENN and SODODIAN have deposited the scientific evidence, adjusted to the latest knowledge on diabetes mellitus treatment, to the General Directorate of Medicines, Food and Sanitary Products. They hope that the country will update the medicines used for treating diabetes based on the latest recommendations from international organizations. The associations believe that the changes can improve diabetes management in the country and change the history of pain caused by the chronic and acute complications of the condition.

In another initiative, the country is set to host the First International Diabetic Foot Congress, “With Feet on Earth” – ALAPID 2023, in Punta Cana from May 18 to 21. The congress will bring together researchers from Latin America, the Caribbean, and other parts of the world to discuss innovations in the field of diabetic foot complications. The congress aims to unify international clinical, medical-scientific, and surgical concepts and efforts on diabetes, and address topics related to clinical endocrinology and nutrition in patients suffering from diabetes mellitus.

However, the Onamet explained that the effects of a trough to the north over the Atlantic Ocean associated with a weak frontal system will originate in the afternoon until early evening cloudy increases with isolated downpours, thunderstorms, and possible wind gusts in the northwestern portion and the Central Cordillera, with greater frequency in the provinces: Dajabón, Elías Piña, Puerto Plata, Valverde, Espaillat, Santiago Rodríguez, Santiago, among other nearby areas.

Temperatures will continue to be quite hot during the day due to the combination of the dust coming from the Sahara and the wind blowing from the southeast. Therefore, the recommendation to the entire population to drink enough liquids (water), wear light clothes (preferably light colors), and not expose themselves directly to the sun, especially from 11:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. without sunscreen, is maintained.

For tomorrow Sunday, in the morning hours, there will be isolated showers on the Caribbean coast and the northeast of the country. However, in the afternoon, the trough will bring more moisture and instability to our forecast area, generating cloudy conditions with locally moderate to heavy downpours, thunderstorms, and wind gusts over the northwest, northeast, Central, Central Cordillera, and the border area until the early hours of the night. Cloudy skies and scarce precipitation will continue to prevail for the rest of the country.

The hospital building has an area of 748 square meters and has an imaging center, sonography, physiotherapy, laboratory, gynecology, internal medicine, dentistry, pediatrics and pharmacy, 6 general specialty clinics, among other services.

The president was accompanied by the vice-minister of construction of Mived Danny Santos and other representatives of the entity. Santos explained that the health care center had an investment of 121 million pesos in construction and equipment.

He highlighted that the construction of this project was stopped since 2018 (with only 20% of execution) and was resumed in this management to finish its materialization.

Aerial view of the Diagnostic Center in Ciudad Juan BoschMIVED.

He added that the residents of this housing complex “will no longer have to move to another place to receive a quality hospital service” and that “the Dominican government is committed to health, because you, our people, come first.”

On his departure, the first head of state was seen off by community members carrying banners with the phrase “four more.”

The sectors that will mainly benefit from the opening of this Health Center are Las Aguas, La Ureña, Jerusalén, Nuevo Amanecer, Residencial Las Américas, Ciudad Satélite II, Los Paredones, and Paraíso III.

The head of state, together with Mived, delivered around 7 kilometers of asphalted streets and 3.5 kilometers of sidewalks and curbs.

Other activities

Abinader also presided over the inauguration of the new emergency room of the Robert Reid Cabral Children’s Hospital, where he gave instructions for the remodeling of the burn unit of the hospital and the intensive care and pediatric area.

The burn unit will be put out to tender and would be ready between April and May 2024, said the director of the National Health Service (SNS), Mario Lama, who added that the areas currently being refurbished had been abandoned for a decade.

He detailed that the expansion and refurbishment carried out in the Emergency Room is valued at RD$76,523,581.80, which was completely equipped with an amount of RD$13,280,590.29.

In addition, he indicated that the readjustment of the spaces comprising the areas of the emergency office, suit with two cubicles, cure, plaster, nebulization with six stations, pharmacy, observation with 23 compartments (two isolated), waiting room, emergency area with 12 pieces, trauma shock with four cubicles and doctors and nurses station.

Robert Reid Cabral Children’s Hospital Emergency Department

The Robert Reid Cabral emergency room also saw the construction of a front gate, a new ambulance canopy, a perimeter sidewalk, asphalt tarpaulin, exterior painting, and the construction of a gas control booth.

He also inaugurated in Brisas del Este, Los Frailes, 7 kilometers of asphalted streets and 3.5 kilometers of sidewalks and sidewalk repair, construction of scuppers and speed bumps, and painting of streets in this community for a value of RD$220 million.

Luis Abinader greets the students during the event.

The last activity in this area was the delivery of the Basic School Tomas Taveras Educational Center (Mandinga) with a capacity of 980 students and built with an investment of more than RD03 million.

The Minister of Education, Angel Hernandez, spoke of the importance of artificial intelligence in education today and explained that the Ministry of Education would soon launch the Decennial Education Plan which should take into account the changes in technology.

After various complaints were presented, including one about altering the gestational age of deceased newborns to modify statistics, a vote was taken to create a collegiate department in the Perinatology area of the hospital to audit the records of births and neonatal mortality.

The proposed interim collegiate management would be made up of a representative of the CMD, the maternity hospital management, and the National Health Service (SNS). Senén Caba, the president of the Dominican Medical College (CMD), along with several other medical professionals, led the meeting and declared that the situation had to be addressed immediately for the benefit of the patients.

The activity was attended by Yocasta Lara, the director of the SNS Hospital Centers, Dr. Martin Ortiz, and the director of the Los Mina Maternity Hospital, Leonardo Aquino.

Barahona, DR
The emergency area of the Jaime Mota Regional University Hospital (HRUJM) was busy this Good Friday due to the number of patients who arrived for various reasons, mainly due to traffic accidents involving motorcycles.

Injured in motor vehicle accidents were Eleodoro Medina Matos, 66, Nashla Ramirez, 6, Elias Cuevas Rubio, 26, Brayelin Peña, 14, Luis David Rodriguez, 26, Nelson Daniel Peña Segura, 37, and Luciano Jimenez, 28.

Ramón Urbáez, 32 years old, a resident of the La Peñuela sector of Cabral, was taken to the local hospital’s emergency room because of a fishing spear stuck in his back, accidentally caused by a companion when they were both fishing on the “El Curro” hill.

The cases are from Batey VIII, belonging to Cristóbal and others from the provinces of Independencia, Bahoruco, and Barahona, as well as from the municipality of Tamayo. Many of them were admitted to this health center.

So far, in Barahona province, there are no records of deaths within the Easter Week: Conscience for Life, 2023 operation, except for the death of a man from Azua de Compostela who hit the motor he was driving with a vehicle near the Vicente Noble intersection.

Dozens of people moved toward the different communities of the coastal area, many of them to visit beaches, rivers, and mountains. However, despite the large number of vehicles that moved towards that part of the province, there are no reports of traffic accidents.

In addition, the different neighborhoods have remained calm during this Good Friday. In the early hours in other sectors, citizens took out their swimming pools for children and adults to bathe, despite the prohibition due to the drought affecting the country.

Santo Domingo, DR.
A one-year-old girl died after she was given an injection in a health center located in the Canastica sector in the province of San Cristobal.

The infant was taken by her relatives to the First Level Care Center Canastica (CPN) last Tuesday, where she was medicated, and after her health situation worsened, referred to the Robert Read Cabral Children’s Hospital, where she died last Wednesday.

The director of the Regional Health Service of Valdesia (SRSV), Marcelino Fulgencio, reported that they are carrying out the necessary investigations to determine the reasons for the death of the infant.

Fulgencio regretted the death of the infant and explained that she was taken to the CPN by her mother and an aunt, with an indication of medication from another health center, so the nursing staff first proceeded to perform a subdermal test on the compatibility of medications, to determine if the girl was allergic to it.

According to the doctor, the test was negative, so the medication was applied.

According to a press release, the girl’s relatives handed over the prescription indicating the medication Diamine 633, prescribed by a pediatrician, which after being applied, the minor began to present difficulty in breathing, weak pulse, and cyanotic.

“According to what could be observed, it was an anaphylaxis,” said Fulgencio.

The head of the SRS Valdesia said that they immediately applied first aid and proceeded to transfer her to the Juan Pablo Pina Regional Hospital, where she was stabilized and later referred to the Robert Read Cabral Children’s Hospital because she required immediate admission to the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit. Last Wednesday, the girl died at the said health center.

Dr. Marcelino Fulgencio reiterated his condolences to the family, with whom he has been in communication, and affirmed that they would continue to investigate the incident in order to apply the corresponding measures if necessary.

Finally, he said that the person who provided care to the minor always remained at the health center.

Rivera stated that walk-in pools should not be used since they require a significant amount of water. When asked about the risk of cholera associated with these pools, the minister said they would only pose a risk if installed in sectors where previous cases were reported.

He cited the example of La Zurza, where surveillance measures are maintained despite no new infections reported, and where community members continue to bathe despite signs prohibiting it. Rivera reported that, as of Sunday, April 2, only one patient with suspected symptoms was under observation for cholera, and there were no hospitalizations for cholera or COVID-19.

As a result, he said the coverage strategy for Easter would focus on traffic accidents during the holiday, with hospitals in the public network and Farmacias del Pueblo supplied by Promese/Cal and the National Health Service (SNS).

Doctors María Arias Peña, Raymundo Hernández, and Plutarco Arias indicated that difficulties in falling asleep also cause poor work performance, increase the chances of suffering strokes and create greater obesity.

Medical professionals said that most road accidents happen because drivers and conductors fall asleep. They indicated that the sleep disorder causes apathy toward sex and that on several occasions it ends in divorce between couples. They explained that sleep apnea, which manifests itself in snoring at night, is more common in people aged 40 and older.

Doctors highlighted that the ARS provides coverage to people who suffer from this health problem. Dr. Plutarco Arias, president of the National Sleep Apnea Institute (INAPS), stressed that this entity continues to advance in the development of its specialized personnel to treat patients suffering from sleep disorders.

Among young people, what seems like a game has repercussions for them and future generations that procreate, because poverty also increases, due to the expenses that it implies having children with health complications. Of 7,976 early births, some are fortuitous. However, the specialists in the area are concerned about the harmful substances consumed by adolescents and young people,  as for the lack of checks during pregnancy and malnutrition.

The statistics of the National Health Service (SNS) indicate that of 114,580 births registered in the country last year, 59,207 were of mothers under 24 years, and of these, 23,258 were teenagers, including 859 under 15 years. “The use of substances during pregnancy promotes prematurity, low birth weight, and that the embryo is not developed properly when the woman abuses so much drug, hookah or vape,” said Leandra Cordero Oñate, pediatric pneumologist and nutriologist. The babies suffer many complications when born prematurely or with low weight. In 2022, 9.04% of births presented low weight and 0.3% malformation. Dr. Cordero Oñate sees in consultation an increase in interstitial pathology, pneumonic processes, and secondary fibrosis and attributes it to the abuse of that type of product at an early age. “All these findings are seen in young people, who understand that using Hookah or vape is not smoking, it is quite the opposite,” he said.

Law 16-19 prohibits the use of Hookah in public and private places in the country, but electronic cigarette has no restrictions and is widely used among adolescents. Studies conducted at the Maternal Child Hospital of Los Minas determined that 73% of teenage mothers consumed alcohol during pregnancy and 21% of their babies required attention due to the condition of fetal alcohol spectrum disorder. Among other factors of prematurity and risks of children’s deaths are hypertension (preeclampsia), obesity, diabetes, having a sedentary life, depression, and low schooling. Maternal-infantile hospitals in the Dominican Republic are endowed with units specialized in attention to premature and low-weight babies, with the required drugs and specialized doctors.

Santo Domingo, DR
In the “Great Forum,” a total of 18 speakers and panelists reflected on the approach to the pandemic, with the mistakes and successes experienced by the country, moderated by Eddy Perez Then, director of the Research Center and presidential advisor for COVID-19.

Chanel Rosa, former director of the National Health Service (SNS), in explaining the context in which the virus struck, pointed out that “the worst thing that happened to us was that the pandemic occurred in the middle of an electoral process, because we all become more petty, more denigrating… and this is transversal to the political class of the Dominican Republic, unfortunately, these are things that happen”.

Rosa emphasized that the good things done in both governments and continuity should be recognized. “It was not easy to manage a pandemic for two governments, however, the fact that a new government took office did not prevent us from continuing with public policies and I feel very proud,” he said.

Among the measures taken, he pointed out the declaration of the State of Emergency and social protection, such as the FASE program, as well as the creation of a national commission for the management of Coronavirus; while among the lessons learned, he listed the strengthening of the Provincial Health Directorates, the Collective Health Programs and the training of health professionals.

Mario Lama, current director of the SNS, said, “we learned that the management of this pandemic was dynamic… we were learning along the way, from the patients themselves and from the panorama we had… we did not take from what was happening in other countries.”

He added as a significant achievement that 18 hospitals were available for the treatment of COVID-19 and, as a lesson, that they had to innovate, creating, for example, daily reports to inform the population about how the hospital occupancy was.

Eladio Pérez, Vice-Minister of Collective Health, indicated that “we all became epidemiologists at that time” when dealing with new medical terms and highlighted the work carried out by the General Public Health Laboratory.

Mr. Perez explained that among the strategies for epidemiological management, the operational structure of the National Laboratory was strengthened and took advantage of his presentation to announce the Forcontact Project, an electronic platform that will allow contact tracing for COVID-19, which will later be used for other diseases.