DR News
The municipality of Sosúa announces that stricter action will be taken against environmental pollution. Those who deposit the waste in public places (streets, sidewalks, parks, beach) will be apprehended by the police and fined. In accordance with law 120.99, the penalty is 2 to 10 days in jail and fines of 500 to 1,000 pesos. The penalties may be imposed in combination depending on the nature of the offense. Police in Sosúa has been ordered to detect violators and punish them.
Source: Sosua News
May 15, 2018
Dominican and foreign companies are building major medical clinics in four cities in the country with an investment of around USD$600 million. The centers will all have high technology and will compete for the 29% of Dominicans who use private health service rather than the free services at the public health sector, and to meet the demands of the growing health tourism market.
The centers will be based in Greater Santo Domingo, Santiago, Bavaro and Punta Cana.
It is reported that these high tech facilities will comply with international health care standards and supplement the hospital bed deficits there currently exist in the private sector.
The first of the clinics is the Metropolitan Center for Advanced Medicine (CEMAV), in the National District, with an investment of over US$70 million, using funds from Dominican, European, Asian, Venezuelan and North American banks. It will have 180 beds, 150 doctors and 300 nurses and will open in the first quarter of 2019.
It is owned by Stragy Group, which is Venezuelan and American and the investors are currently providers to the Dominican state for medical equipment, and consumable and provide material to at least five of the main dialysis centers in the country.
A market study has shown that the deficit of beds in private clinics in Santo Domingo is more than 5,000 and in the area where CEMAV is located there is a 700-bed deficit,
The second center is for diabetes and is the Medical Center for Diabetes, Obesity and Specialities (CEMDOE), which will benefit 10,000 patients and have 150 staff. It will be located on Luperón Avenue and is backed by Mariela Vicini.
The International Medical Group (IMG) is also under construction with Venezuelan capital and is located on the Bavaro Boulevard in front of El Cocotal and Villas Bávaro, It will offer services in 20 specialties and 40 beds.
Finally, the Sanitary Rescue City is a hospital complex located within the hotel sector in Bavaro Punta Cana with an investment of US$100 million. This is a general hospital with a surgical center specializing in orthopedic surgery, spinal surgery and plastic and reconstructive surgery. It will have 140 beds, expects to have 750 staff of which 100 will be doctors and 160 nurses. The first stage began in 2017 and it is expected to be completed in 2020.
Source: DR1, Hoy
May 15, 2018
A report in Diario Libre on Friday, 11 May 2018, highlights that a person making RD$12,000 a month when retiring will only have saved enough to receive RD$4,000 a month in pension funds. This in comparison to the wealthy Pension Fund Management Companies (AFPs) that in 2017 reported earnings of more than RD$4.6 billion a year.
Economist Airon Fernández and sociologist Matías Bosch Carcuro conducted research into the system (Radiografia del Sistema de Administración de Fondos de Pensiones) and said that the pension plans earnings is six times more than the yield made by the workers paying into the system. Accumulated earnings from 2004 to 2017 for the companies is more than RD$31.12 billion.
The experts say that as time goes by the pull of the pension plan management companies is greater. While in 2007 the pension funds represented 2.3% of the GDP, by 2017 these now represent 11.3%, or an increase of 400%.
Making matters worse, 74% of the RD$304.84 billion in the pension plans is deposited in public entities.
Source: DR1, DiarioLibre
May 15, 2018
Frenchman Christophe Naudin was freed from prison in France on conditional release on grounds of poor health. The aviation expert had been instrumental in helping two French pilots sentenced to 20 years in Dominican jail for their participation in cocaine smuggling from the Dominican Republic to France.
55-year old Naudi was released on Saturday, 12 May 2018. His lawyer, Stephen Monod, had said that Naudin was eligible for release for good behavior. Naudin had been sentenced to five years in prison in Najayo Men’s Jail for helping the pilots Bruno Odos and Pascal Fauret in the Air Cocaine case. The pilots claimed they were not aware of the 680 kilos of cocaine in 26 suitcases they transported on a private plane from Punta Cana to Saint Tropez.
Naudin was serving a prison sentence in Higuey prior to an agreement that was reached with the Dominican judiciary that allowed him to serve out his sentence in France at the Villepinte jail in Seine-Saint Denis.
http://en.rfi.fr
May 15, 2018
Self-taught Jairon Ortiz put his self-acquired knowledge together and built an excavator that can be remotely operated. Ortiz graduated from the Liceo Ramon Marte Pichardo public high school in El Río, Tireo in Constanza, La Vega province.
He seeks to win a scholarship to study mechatronics engineering but his family cannot afford to send him to school. He said he would like to study to be able to carry out important projects.
Ortiz described his backhoe as a hybrid between electronics and mechanical operation, with the use of a hydraulic system, batteries and electric motors. He said one of the advantages to his project is that it can be operated in difficult areas without putting at risk a human being because of its wireless operation.
Source: DR1, 7dias
May 15, 2018
The representative of the Chinese Commercial Office in Santo Domingo, Fu Xinrong, was at Chinatown in Santo Domingo to celebrate with local residents the signing of diplomatic relations.
In a speech in Chinatown, she highlighted how the signing opens up a new world of opportunities in tourism, commerce, investment, infrastructure, manufacturing, high tech, education, among others.
Speaking for the Chinese community, Su Kin Fung, president of the Center for the Chinese Colony, said that now the Dominican Republic will be named a travel destination open to Chinese tourists. He highlighted some 130 million tourists traveled last year.
The Center for the Chinese Colony is an umbrella organization for entities working for increased relations with China. These include: Unión Empresarial Domínico Chino, Asociación de la Familia CHITACK (NG); Asociación de las Familias Joa, Lai and Kong; Chi Kuntong Dominicana (Chinese Masons);
Asociación Juventud China; Fundación Flor para Todos, Fundación Nuestra Familia, Asociación de Comerciantes y Profesionales del Barrio Chino de Santo Domingo and Tai Kua Lo. Also the Chinese Chamber of Commerce in the Dominican Republic.
Chinatown is flying the Dominican and People’s Republic of China flags after the announcement of the new diplomatic relations on 30 April 2018.
Source: DR1, DiarioLibre
May 15, 2018
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
MONTREAL: Air Transat unveiled its flight program for winter 2018-2019, offering travellers a choice of 34 Sun destinations in the Caribbean, Mexico, Central and South America as well as Florida, along with an even more diversified selection of European cities, which are increasingly appreciated by Canadians during the winter season.
Air Transat, the leading leisure carrier in Canada, is also pleased to announce the return of flights from Toronto and Montreal to Saint-Martin/St-Maarten and San Juan, Puerto Rico, both of which are embarkation ports for Transat’s all-in-one cruise packages.
“As the Canadian leader in holiday travel, Air Transat continually strives to offer travellers more destinations and more flexibility, which is why we are significantly boosting frequency on our domestic routes, the vast majority of which will allow travellers to make connections to a larger number of South and Europe destinations,” says Annick Guerard, Chief Operating Officer, Transat. “Winter 2018-2019 also marks the start of a transitional period in our operations, namely our fleet upgrades, which will see us introduce gradually this winter the shorter-range Airbus A321s, and then later, in May 2019, the newer A321neo LR. Once completed, these changes will mean an even better-performing Air Transat fleet, thanks notably to this aircraft’s great versatility and the impressive flexibility that it offers in terms of flight frequency,” she concludes.
Mexico, the Dominican Republic and Florida remain Canadians’ top picks
More than ever, Air Transat is there for Canadian vacationers looking to escape to their favourite trio of destinations, with an increase in the number of its direct flights and new travel opportunities via Toronto. Extra flights to Cancun, Mexico, will be added, departing from Vancouver, Edmonton, Calgary, Toronto, Hamilton, Montreal and Quebec City. Vancouver residents will enjoy daily connections to Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, and more flights to the Pacific resort destination will be available to holidayers in and around Edmonton. The Dominican Republic is also prominent in the program, with flights added out of Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa and Halifax to Punta Cana, whose magnificent white sand beaches need no introduction. With the beaches of Florida enjoying a resurgence in popularity, Air Transat is boosting its direct flights to Fort Lauderdale from Toronto, Montreal, Quebec City and Halifax, as well as to Tampa out of Toronto.
From major Canadian cities, a total of 29 weekly flights will be offered to Florida. Note also that Transat offers several all-in-one cruise package itineraries sailing from Fort Lauderdale, Tampa and Miami.
In recent years, Costa Rica has emerged as an increasingly popular tourism destination, with its unbeatable blend of off-the-beaten-path natural wonders and relaxing beaches. Air Transat has responded to demand by adding more direct flights from Toronto to San Jose and Liberia.
The carrier is also pleased to announce that it is boosting its number of direct flights from Montreal to Cartageña, Colombia, and Fort-de-France, Martinique.
Source: newkerala.com
May 15, 2018
The volunteers of the environmental organization SOMONCA recently held a big cleanup along the passageway from Sosúa and Cabarete to Sabaneta de Yasica. The organization SOMONCA (Sosúa, Montellano and Cabarete) was founded in 2014 with the objective to create awareness about environmental issues for the community through training. Environmental pollution caused by plastic packaging is an important point of action and should be tackled. During the clean up many bags full of plastic have been removed from the roadside. According to the chairman of SOMONCA, Mr Tony Gómez, much remains to be done to inform people not to deposit waste along the roadside.
Source: Sosua News
May 15, 2018
PUERTO PLATA.- Through an act of bailiff, the Association of Owners of Hotels, Condominiums and Commercial Establishments of Playa Dorada yesterday called on all the authorities of Puerto Plata, so that they urgently seek a solution to the constant conflicts among taxi drivers and passengers dispute, that are affecting the image of this tourist destination.
The notification of the fulfillment and execution of the constitutional guarantees of protection of physical integrity, property and the tourist system of the Playa Dorada Complex, is directed to the Prosecutor’s Office of this province, in addition to the Civil Government, the Ministry of Tourism, Specialized Body of Tourist Security (CESTUR), National Police, the National Institute of Traffic and Land Transportation (INTRANT), Dominican Republic Air Force (FARD) and the Municipal Government of Puerto Plata.
This notification requires all competent authorities to seek a final solution to the blockades made by taxi drivers in that tourist complex since they are affecting tourists, as was in the case on Saturday, May 5 when several units of the Union of taxi drivers obstructed the transit to the point of forcing some guests who were in the Hotel Sunscape to leave the vehicle in which they were traveling.
According to Mr. Manuel Finke who is the executive director of the Association of Owners of Hotels, Condominiums and Commercial Establishments of Playa Dorada, the frequent clashes between taxi drivers also damage the image of this destination could degenerate a misfortune, for which I appeal to the authorities to take an immediate and forceful measure so that peace, order and free competition prevail.
Source: Detras del Rumor
May 11, 2018
