Hospitals filled up

[NewsWhore]

Most of today's newspapers print pictures of patients lying on the floor while receiving primary care at hospitals in Santo Domingo. The Dario Contreras Hospital, one of the nation's busiest, does not have enough beds to treat all the emergency patients who were admitted over the holidays. Staff even had to use the neurosurgery unit hallways to accommodate patients who were waiting for beds to become available. The head of orthopedics and trauma, Dr. Guillermo Garcia Lorenzo, said that the situation was continual due to a lack of funding. The "Dario" as it is known, dealt with 384 emergencies over the weekend, 141 of which resulted from traffic accidents. It also treated 44 people for knife wounds, and 26 gunshot victims. According to hospital director Dr Hector Quezada, this year's end saw a reduction in the number of emergency cases, but only slightly. The figures were 393 in 2005 and 284 for 2006. Quezada supported the continuation of the restriction on the sale of alcoholic beverages as well as those restricting alcohol consumption and driving.

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