Financial groups control health providers in Dominican Republic
The president of the Dominican Medical Guild (CMD) Dr. Wilson Roa denounced the public hospitals being inaugurated by the Medina administration are lacking in equipment, staff and basic working supplies. He said that in the country the medical health provider companies are not providers of medical services. Instead he said they are financial risk administrators.
Dr. Wilson Roa Familia went so far as to say that in the Dominican Republic there is no real patient-focused health network, but rather the health sector is controlled by financial groups.
Moreso, Roa said that when doctors do not comply with their schedules it is due to a lack of efficient management at the center where the anomaly occurs.
He criticized that the government is overseeing the simultaneous renovations at 57 public hospitals, without any kind of central planning. “This chaotic administrative oversight has caused great damage to the health sector,” he said. He said even the government admitted the heavy workload in improving infrastructure was a big mistake that has had profound effects on the health of the population.
Dr. Roa made the statements when interviewed by Héctor Herrera Cabral for the D’Agenda program, on Channel 11.
“The investment that is made in the rehabilitation of a hospital is only measurable, if accompanied by planning, which there was not; installing of equipment, and these have not been equipped, and qualified personnel to give a good service”, explained the president of the professional association.
He criticized the government has pensioned off around 1,756 doctors and not named their replacements.
Roa added that the health providers (ARS) even dared to publish their profits that at the end of the year amount, that added up to hundreds of millions of pesos. Meanwhile, he said patients who are financing the service, and the doctors, who are also financing the system, are suffering from an inefficient and inequitable health care system. He said the financial companies control the Social Security Council where the policies of the sector are decided because these have veto power.
Source: DR1, DiarioLibre
May 15, 2018
Category: DR News |