Punta Cana.- Punta Cana became a hub for Latin American vascular medicine with the IV International Congress of the Dominican Society of Vascular and Endovascular Surgery (SDCVE) and the XIII Latin American Venous Forum, establishing itself as one of the region’s most important medical events.

The congress brought together 40 specialists—27 international and 13 national—who shared the latest advances in the diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of vascular diseases. Activities included research presentations, clinical case analyses, and demonstrations of cutting-edge technologies transforming vascular and endovascular surgery across Latin America.

The event was posthumously dedicated to Dr. Jorge Ulloa Domínguez, a distinguished Colombian vascular surgeon recognized for his career and contributions to venous disease treatment.

With the Grenada Hospital being Baby-Friendly certified, GFNC believes that workplaces should also become breastfeeding-friendly

View the full post GFNC: We need breastfeeding-friendly workplaces on NOW Grenada.

Santo Domingo.- The Superintendency of Health and Occupational Risks (SISARIL) has fined the Dr. Abel González Advanced Medicine Center, SAS, RD$2,189,154.8—equivalent to 101 national minimum wages—for failing to provide emergency care to Franklin Alberto Rodríguez Garabitos and Luis Thomas Graveley during the tragedy at the Jet Set nightclub on April 8, 2025. The fine was imposed after the center was found in violation of social security regulations, including Administrative Resolution No. 00165-2009 and Law 87-01.

The sanction followed complaints received by the General Directorate of Information and Defense of Social Security Affiliates (DIDA), which initiated an administrative procedure against the center. The resolution requires the medical facility to pay the full fine within ten business days and underscores the obligation of health providers to deliver timely care to social security affiliates in critical situations.

Additionally, the center must implement corrective measures, including submitting a detailed action plan within ten days, and ensuring all administrative and clinical staff participate in technical training on Family Health Insurance regulations. Compliance will be monitored by SISARIL’s Health Insurance Directorate, aiming to protect patients’ rights and enforce emergency care standards.

Patients arriving at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital’s Accident and Emergency Department are now being registered in as little as three minutes, the hospital said Monday, with overall triage waiting times cut by 40 per cent, following sweeping efficiency reforms.

Registration, once one of the major bottlenecks, is now down to as quick as three minutes, while wait times for triage have fallen by almost half.

Service Improvement Manager Dr Ayja Clarke said on the hospital’s Pulse Radio show that new digital self-registration kiosks have made a significant difference.

“The first thing we’ve been looking at is decreasing that time to registration,” she said. “So once you get through the door of the Accident and Emergency Department, you will be screened with security. What you will see now is you are going to be directed to a digital kiosk, so a self-registration kiosk.

“So now we have decreased registration time. So once you come into the department, we have registration time sometimes as low as three minutes. Sometimes it’s ten minutes during peak times when things are really, really busy.”

Clarke said triage has also been restructured with the addition of a senior doctor working alongside nurses.

“Since introducing the changes, especially with the introduction of the physician-assisted triage, the wait times between patients coming through the door and getting to triage are down by 40 per cent,” she said.

Other measures include advanced triage, where tests and scans can be ordered earlier; nurse-initiated medication to provide pain relief on arrival; and plans for a minor case unit to fast-track patients with less severe conditions.

Head of Accident and Emergency Dr Anne Marie Cruikshank said the digital changes were also helping staff act faster.

“As [the nurses] enter digitally into the system, that information goes directly to the medical records officer. … We have physician-assisted triage, and we can now start the investigations, the pain meds, the imaging’s being ordered. Everything can start from screening or triage,” she said.

Dr Clarke also revealed that the hospital has introduced Estimated Date of Discharge boards on wards, giving teams and relatives a clear plan for getting patients home.

“Overall in the hospital, I’m happy to report that so far the average length of stay in the hospital is down in all of the wards by 1.2 days, but in the wards that we piloted the boards on, we have noted that the average length of stay is down even further, down by 2.9 days,” she said.

QEH Chief Executive Officer Neil Clark said the introduction of service improvement managers earlier this year was designed to allow departments space to rethink service delivery.

“They’ve been focused on the A&E pathway and what I call the Unplanned Care Pathway, A&E, inpatient flow and discharge planning, and we’ll move them at some point in the future to the Planned Care Pathway,” he said.

He cited oncology as one area where staff-led improvements were delivering results.

“You would have seen the cancer waiting times at 140 days for your first outpatient appointment. We’re now down to three weeks. We’re down to 21 days from 140 days. And that’s that team in the Oncology Department just taking the initiative and saying they’re going to fix this, we’re going to improve this for the population.”

Clark added: “What I sense when I walk around is that there’s a change coming. I feel that change in people who are speaking to me. I feel people are getting permission to do things. And it feels like it was always that they were waiting for the CEO to say yes you can do this and I keep saying it’s your department, if you think that works better, try it, and that’s happening.” (SM)

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“Beauty should never come at the cost of our future.”

The post I had to Have Fibroid Surgery, but our Girls Shouldn’t Have To first appeared on Toronto Caribbean Newspaper.

This impactful initiative brought together local medical professionals and a 25-member international ...

Santo Domingo, (EFE).- Research from the University of Texas shows that heat waves, which are becoming more frequent, intense, and prolonged worldwide, not only pose a risk from high temperatures but also worsen air pollution. Presented at the American Chemical Society conference, the study analyzed the 2024 Texas heat wave, during which temperatures ranged from 32°C to 41°C.

Using air samples collected day and night on the Texas A&M University campus, researchers measured pollutants like nitrogen oxides, ozone, volatile organic compounds (VOCs), and nanoparticles. The study found that extreme heat increased levels of ozone, oxygenated VOCs, and highly acidic nanoparticles. Tree emissions of natural VOCs, such as isoprene, also rose during the heat wave, interacting with other pollutants to create harmful ozone and secondary organic aerosols.

To protect public health, researchers recommend limiting outdoor activity during peak heat hours, avoiding exercise, monitoring air quality, and keeping windows closed. They stress that understanding how climate change impacts atmospheric chemistry and air quality is crucial to mitigating these risks.

View the full post Grenada foreign minister rejects U.S. claims that Cuba’s medical missions are ‘forced labor’ on NOW Grenada.

Santo Domingo, DR—The Ministry of Public Health reported in its epidemiological bulletin for week 31 that the Doctor Defilló National Reference Laboratory processed 36 respiratory samples.

It also highlights that multiple respiratory viruses, such as Covid-19 ( SARS-CoV-2 ) and metapneumovirus, are currently actively circulating.

The Ministry of Public Health urges the population to get vaccinated and follow key community measures such as handwashing, mask use for symptomatic individuals, adequate ventilation, and avoiding self-medication.

Additionally, seek medical attention if you experience respiratory symptoms to help contain transmission and protect the most vulnerable populations.

It indicates that if the patient has a persistent fever or difficulty breathing, they should go to a health center immediately.

It also suggests seeking guidance only from official sources and avoiding disseminating unverified information.

Against hepatitis

In another order, the epidemiological bulletin also highlights the warning made by the World Health Organization (WHO) in commemoration of World Hepatitis Day, that type D of this disease is carcinogenic.

“Every 30 seconds, someone dies from a serious liver disease or liver cancer linked to hepatitis, even though we have the means to stop the disease,” said WHO Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.

He indicated that viral hepatitis, types A, B, C, D, and E, are important causes of acute liver infection.

He stated that of these hepatitis types, only types B, C, and D can cause chronic infections that significantly increase the risk of cirrhosis, liver failure, or liver cancer. Still, most people with this disease don’t know they’re infected.

He also noted that these three types affect more than 300 million people worldwide and cause more than 1.3 million deaths each year, primarily from liver cirrhosis and cancer.

The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) recently classified hepatitis D as carcinogenic to humans, along with hepatitis B and C.

He indicated that this type of hepatitis, which only affects people with hepatitis B, is associated with a risk of liver cancer two to six times greater than if the person has hepatitis B alone.

“In 2024, WHO published guidelines on testing and diagnosis for hepatitis B and D and is actively monitoring clinical endpoints for innovative hepatitis D treatments,” said Dr. Meg Doherty, the new director of the Department of Science for Health at WHO.

Last July, the Ministry of Public Health (MSP) reported that the National Epidemiological Surveillance System (Sinave) had recorded 910 cases of hepatitis B nationwide so far this year. The highest incidence of cases was reported in men.

Regarding hepatitis C, 541 cases were reported, with women being the most affected.

The disease

Hepatitis is defined as the inflammation of the liver, caused by one of the many viruses that exist, whether A, B, C, D, or E.

According to specialists, these types of viruses are transmitted through unprotected sex, contact with contaminated food and drinks, and contact with bodily fluids from infected people.

Symptoms

Symptoms of hepatitis include extreme fatigue, nausea and vomiting, diarrhea, low-grade fever, dark urine, pale stools, abdominal pain, loss of appetite, and yellowing of the skin and eyes.

Treatment

The WHO reported that oral medication can cure hepatitis C within two to three months, and can also control the virus with lifelong treatment.

He highlighted that testing and treatment coverage are low, noting that 13% of people with hepatitis B and 36% of those already living with the disease were diagnosed in 2022, making expanding coverage for prevention, testing, and treatment of this disease a challenge.