Dominican Republic Campaign in the Bocachica local hospital from 12 to 24 October 2018.
Participants:
Team leader: J.A.Pascual, Surgeon.
Surgeons: Juan Javier Manzanares, Guadalupe Moreno, Hermelinda Pardellas.
Anestheologist: Eugenio Briz
Lady nurse: M. Luz Hernandez Mulas
Logistics: Faustino Santisteban
This was our first campaign in the Dominican Republic. We started on October 12 in a direct flight from the Madrid Barajas airport to Santo Domingo. There we were received with great joy by Bocachica Hospital directors (Lady doctor Nikaurys Sánchez, lady doctor Ana Veras, nurse Altagracia and her daughter Jorgina who had come from Madrid to be with us and help us during our stay. She was the first one to think of this plan.
The Bocachica area, placed at about 40km from the center of Santo Domingo, has a population of 142.000 (2010 survey) with a surface of 140 square km. It has a second grade municipal hospital for basic mother-child attention, built more than 30 years ago. It has a surgical area with an operating theater, a place for delivery and a small operating theater that could be used for minor surgery. At present it is in a deplorable condition with scanty help from the central government, and this makes it impossible to facilitate the services that could be offered and are demanded by the people. The work is just maternal care for more than 30 births a day.
With this scarce funding and with our own enthusiasm we operated upon 101 cases with 95 patients, all of them wall pathology (inguinal hernias, umbilical hernias, lipomas, etc.).
We rested on weekend to visit Santo Domingo, capital of the republic, which keeps up a Spanish touch and whose people feel privileged for their historical oink with Spain, keeping up names of streets, monuments, etc…
During our stay we lodged at a hotel near the hospital, which was very comfortable and thus allowed us to rest after long work spells.
We hope that, with the experience of this mission, future missions will yield even larger fruit.