IDB US$300.0M loan bolsters Dominican healthcare coverage

Washington.- TheInter-American Development Bank (IDB) on Thursday approved a US$300.0 million loanfor the Dominican Republic to bolster coverage and improve healthcare spending.

The transaction aims topromote measures to strengthen the pension system in the Caribbean country, theIDB said in a press release.

The funds aim toimplement, support and establish the National Health Service, an independentagency, the model on Regional Health Services, and compliance of standards onmaternal and child care, among others.

It also amends the definitionof policies to increase coverage; institutions and monitoring system will bestrengthened to control evasion; a roster of senior citizens living in extremepoverty will be determined to develop the subsidized system and financialeducation plan.

The IDB said themeasures "leverage and give continuity to the first operation, whereby theprogram supported the consolidation of the pension system, through changes in thedesign of policies, improved targeting of benefits and access to information, andinstitutional strengthening."