More than five billion pesos (more than US $100 million) are spent each year by the Dominican Government for Haitian women who come to deliver in the Dominican Republic, revealed Dr. Nelson Rodriguez Monegros, Director of Health (SNS).

While acknowledging that health is a universal right, that people requesting a service must be assisted, expresses concern about the way pregnant women come from Haiti to give birth free of charge in inican Health Centers, through networks mafia networks composed of Dominicans and Haitians who trade their service...

He explains that it is not uncommon for pregnant women from Haiti come together as a group on the same day. "The fact that 10 Haitian women with a full-term pregnancy appear at the same time at a health center is not a coincidence but involves an organized structure that provides support to these women," adding that often the Center does not have sufficient capacity of reception which obliges to transport these women to other Centers...

Rodríguez Monegro reveals that between 80 and 90% of births in hospitals and in health centers of the border area are of Haitian origin, noting that most mothers after childbirth, remain illegally on the Dominican territory.

Dr. Monegro appealed to the armed forces and the Directorate General of Immigration to strengthen controls and regulations "because when a foreign helpless comes into our hospitals, we have no other choice than to provide services on humanitarian grounds, but the costs are no longer bearable."

SL/ HaitiLibre