The Dominican Medical College (CMD) announced that it agreed with the Government to expand the Basic Health Plan (PBS) so that “you always have to look for an alternative” to the patient in terms of their treatment and “never” be told that their insurance This or that disease is not covered.
The president of the CMD Senén Caba said after meeting with vice president Raquel Peña and officials from the health sector, that issues of “national importance” were discussed, such as the expansion of the PBS, in which it is also proposed to include new medicines that until now have not are available to patients.
“All the parties agree that the Basic Health Plan has to be modified, so that there is always an alternative to the problems of the patients, even if the treatment is not in the insurance catalogues, at least it should be cover the elementary care level”, said Caba.
In this sense, he added that if the treatment is “very new” a part will always be covered for members of health risk insurers (ARS).
He also announced that it was agreed with the Government that patients with mental illnesses receive coverage from the National Health Service (Senasa), “which has already begun to care for them through the contributory regime.”
Caba pointed out that these patients will also receive attention from the ARS of the private sector, as well as those who suffer from disabilities, so that the latter can be visited in their homes by family doctors and geriatricians.
He also announced that the CMD will meet with the Ministry of Public Health to learn about the glossary of “all the new drugs” that are on the market to treat different conditions to include them among those that will be offered to patients.
With regard to the demands for vindication of the doctors, he said that next Wednesday they will meet with the Minister of Labor, Luis Miguel De Camps García, to assess a series of conditions around this issue.
“Next Wednesday there will be a first meeting in the National Salary Committee that will be convened by the Minister of Labor, who will chair it, to assess what concerns the equalization of rates and the increase in consultations on the fees of the country’s doctors,” Caba stated.