Photo caption: Minister Cornelius De Weever during his recent meeting with representatives of the COOMEVA Group.
Minister of Public Health Social Development & Labor, Cornelius De Weever is currently working with the COOMEVA Medical Group out of Columbia and SZV to make the patient experience abroad a less tedious one.
Minister De Weever recently met with the COOMEVA group, where a number of issues were discussed. The main topic was providing a Health Charter Flights Program. Currently patients referred by SZV to travel to Colombia for medical care make use of the commercial flights, which at times can become an uncomfortable experience for patients, due to flight availability, delays and cost. Unwanted delays are usually caused for patients that must travel immediately for medical treatment, and once the treatment has ended in Colombia, the delays caused by unavailability of flights generates extra cost in accommodation, transportation and other expenses the patient incurs.
Minister De Weever mentioned that he will be working diligently with SZV and COOMEVA on the logistics of this program, with the aim of making the patient experience as pleasant as possible. "As Minister, I am here to serve the people of St. Maarten and to ensure that all their medical priorities are taken care of in a professional and attentive manner, I believe that this program will be a great help to all medical referrals to Colombia."
Once all the logistics are worked out for the inbound and outbound charter flight program the process for the patient will become faster and smoother. The proposed program will have a significant impact on the medical referral procedure in terms of better quality, timeliness, logistics and cost. The program will provide an opportunity for patients that seek immediate medical treatment, especially for those complex medical conditions that must be transferred to Colombia promptly.
All flights will be executed in an exclusive charter flight with a capacity for 18 people from St. Maarten directly to Colombia. A professional nurse will be on all inbound/outbound flights. "We will also collaborate with Saba and St. Eustatius to ensure we have a full flight each time," said Minister De Weever.