07 April, 2008
ANSE-A-PITRES, Haiti. – Haiti’s Health Minister, Dr. Robert Auguste, ended on Saturday, March 30th in the Southeastern impoverished border locality of Anse-a-Pitres, a series of meetings with board members and strategic partners of the Batey Relief Alliance and BRA Dominicana—as part of a three-day visit to the Dominican Republic searching for ways to enhance healthcare for 20,000 inhabitants living at the border.
Minister Auguste and his five-member delegation started the visit with a trip to the Batey Relief Alliance’s health installations in the province of Monte Plata—Northeastern Santo Domingo. “I am very impressed by the intervention of the organization,” said Minister Auguste.
The Minister and members of the Batey Relief Alliance traveled to Anse-a-Pitres to evaluate the health situation of the population and conditions of the two government-owned medical clinics. The Minister expressed concerns over the lack of access to quality health services to the population and his willingness to transfer the complete management of the clinics to the Batey Relief Alliance—with a track record of delivering annually healthcare and medicines to 17,000 Haitians and Dominicans living inside the bateyes of the Dominican Republic.
A meeting is scheduled for June 27th in Haiti’s capital, Port-au-Prince to sign an agreement between Haiti’s Ministry of Health and the Batey Relief Alliance. “We are ready to intervene swiftly in Anse-a-Pitres in preventive health projects and management in the areas of primary care and surgeries, dentistry, HIV/AIDS, blindness, water/sanitation, nutrition, and community health promotion and education,” added Ulrick Gaillard, CEO of the Batey Relief Alliance.
