The presidential candidate for the Dominican Liberation Party (PLD), Abel Martinezconsidered yesterday that only by applying a effective migration policy by the government, which stops the illegal crossing of Haitians across the border, it will be possible to prevent Dominicans from being infected by the outbreak of skin infection that affects the neighboring country.
Martínez recommended taking the necessary measures to prevent the scabies outbreak and any other contagious disease that affects the Haitian population can be transmitted through the fragile border, as well as by the binational market.
“The measures must be taken because what we have seen is a binational market that suits the Dominican Republic, but that must be done with regulations, with controls. We see thousands of Haitians who enter the market and have no control. We agree with the market as long as it is done the right way, not the way it is being done now,” he said.
The mayor for the province of Santiago de los Caballeros also lamented that the 40% of the budget of the Ministry of Public Health is being spent on a network that brings Haitian women in labor illegally to the country’s hospitals, which, despite the fact that the government said that this was not going to be allowed, dozens of them continue to arrive daily and remain residing in the country.
Government actions remain unfulfilled promises
Abel Martinezassured that the 76.3% decrease in public investment in the northern region of the country is a clear and deplorable example of the ineptitude with which the Government is managing and the total abandonment of that important region of the country.
Martínez’s statements come as a result of a study prepared by the Central Bank which indicates that between January and April 2021, the 14 provinces of the northern region only received from the Government, “the tiny investment of RD$882.7 million, showing a very bleak outlook in order to improve the quality of life of the population and increase the production of goods and provision of services”, according to the senior political leader.
