NewsWhore
11-27-2008, 03:20 PM
A lot of pain, discomfort and a sad state of worry is what people on low incomes face after suffering an accident and ending up in the Dario Contreras Hospital. If they do not have the resources to buy the required materials and medicines that are generally scarce in the hospital, they have to remain bed-ridden and wait for as long as three months until their families are able to raise the money. Or, if they can't, they are sent home to free up beds for other patients. According to Diario Libre, this is the case of William Brito, a native of Peralta, in Azua province, who suffered a motorcycle accident two months ago and for lack of money has had to wait all this time to be operated on. Brito said, "I was here for 53 days, and after that they sent me home because I did not have the money to buy the apparatus that I have here (on one of his legs)." Brito needs a Femur Brace that costs between RD$25,000 and RD$27,000 from surgery supply houses, and the public hospitals do not have them, or the money to purchase them. The members of Brito's family managed to get the funds and last Tuesday he returned for the operation, accompanied by his wife. When they went back to the hospital, and on a friend's recommendation the pair contacted an unnamed person, to prevent prolonging the process, who offered them the apparatus for RD$23,000. His wife, who awaited other offers, said "Other persons told us that they sell the apparatus cheaper."
What the couple did not know was that for the last week the hospital has had the apparatus and sells it at RD$10,000 "in order to help the patients." After finding out that she could get the apparatus cheaper right there, the woman continued doubting the equipment's effectiveness, and did not hesitate to ask the person in charge of the Social Work Department, Mayra Sanchez, whether she would have to wait another 53 days if she were to decide to purchase the equipment that the hospital was selling. This is just one example of the cases that occur in the hospital's trauma center, where many people take advantage of the patients' ignorance and lack of knowledge, as well as the lack of supervision by the authorities.
More... (http://www.dr1.com/index.html#8)
What the couple did not know was that for the last week the hospital has had the apparatus and sells it at RD$10,000 "in order to help the patients." After finding out that she could get the apparatus cheaper right there, the woman continued doubting the equipment's effectiveness, and did not hesitate to ask the person in charge of the Social Work Department, Mayra Sanchez, whether she would have to wait another 53 days if she were to decide to purchase the equipment that the hospital was selling. This is just one example of the cases that occur in the hospital's trauma center, where many people take advantage of the patients' ignorance and lack of knowledge, as well as the lack of supervision by the authorities.
More... (http://www.dr1.com/index.html#8)