Vice-president inaugurates primary care centers in Puerto Plata

The Vice Presidency of the Republic inaugurated two new Centers of First Level of Health Care yesterday in Puerto Plata. These centers aim to improve the quality of medical services, prevent diseases and provide timely care to vulnerable groups in that province.

The centers are located in the sectors of Los Charamicos and Villa Liberación and will make it possible to decongest hospitals and contribute to closing the gap in health services in the areas most affected by poverty.
“It is imperative for us to be concerned about the different conditions to which the population is subject and that it prevents them from progressing,” Rosa María Suárez, the technical director of the Coordination of Social Policies (GCPS), explained in a note to vice president Margarita Cedeño.

She indicated that 22,484 people will benefit from the services they will provide, which means saving time and money.

Social gaps. Suarez said that the vice presidency works to identify social gaps linked to lack of money and “that we know that it is much more than that, that poverty is multidimensional and that poverty is also when there is a lack of adequate housing and access to health services.

The official said that the vice-presidency plans to build a 69 primary care centers and that to date 32 have been inaugurated, to which the rehabilitation of 106 others has been added and the initiative has the backing of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB).

According to the text, Carolina González Acero, a social protection specialist from the IDB, said that investing in the first level of care is fundamental since it is not only part of health promotion but also prevention, which favors better results. “We have been able to see how the Government is betting on the most important aspect of life which is good health and for us it is very important to have been part of this process, because in this way we are contributing to improving the quality of life for all Dominicans,” highlighted the executive.

The project “Reducing the gap and strengthening health care services” is part of the actions with which the GCPS accompanies the National Health Service (SNS) to follow up on the guidelines of the central government on the commitment of improving health indicators in order to reduce maternal and infant mortality, says the document.

Services. Some of the services that citizens will find in these spaces include family planning, maternal education, care for pregnant women, children, immunizations according to the national vaccination scheme and follow-up at home to those affected by terminal illnesses and elderly people at risk.

In addition to the required equipment, the primary care centers have a computer program so that the patient’s data and the registration of their vaccines are available in any other center of that type to which they go.

The information, received from the Vice Presidency of the Republic, indicates that because of the wide coverage of low complexity services that they offer, they can receive 80 percent of the medical demand and resolve 75 percent.

The center of Villa Liberación, whose residents had previously to travel seven kilometers to take care of their health, has an emergency room, a vaccine area, a pharmacy, a waiting room, and two clinics.

While the Los Charamicos center has a waiting room, two offices, emergency, vaccine area, cistern, pump room, and pharmacy.