Today, Thursday May 7th Commissioner Bruce Zagers with a small delegation will be travelling to Sint Eustatius to meet with Commissioner Julian Woodley to discuss the future status of Health Care on Saba and Eustatius. Island Doctor Gijs Koot and Island Secretary Menno van de Velde will be accompanying the Commissioner for these important discussions.
Seeing that both health care systems are going through identical transformations, the two commissioners felt it was very important that the two islands combine forces.
Currently, the two island hospitals are managed by the Island Governments. However, seeing that Health Care is going to fall directly under the Ministry of Health in Holland, the hospitals will have to be privatized and then fall directly under a Board of Directors.
Seeing the potential impact this will have on the community it is of utmost important that these matters be discussed jointly. Commissioner Zagers is positive that this meeting will produce ideas on how the Island Governments will deal with the privatization process. Zagers also stated that he realizes there is a lot of unrest about the process and he hopes that this meeting will produce a concrete strategy that can be carried out by both Island Governments. Furthermore, there should be some sensitization of the transitional processing in regard to all health care staff members involved.