Chairman of the Permanent Committee of Health Care, Social Development and Labor, Independent Member of Parliament Cornelius De Weever is reacting to an article in Tuesday’s newspapers regarding the SZV/SMMC and Ministry Public Health Social Development & Labor’s meeting being premature.
MP De Weever stated that decisions made in January 2015 in Aruba during the IPKO meeting highlighted four points regarding the future of health care in the kingdom. 1. The possibilities of working together in the area of the Inspectorate and quality care. 2. Minimize waste through joint purchasing of medication. 3. Reducing cost by the bundling of specialties. 4. Reducing cost by reducing medical referrals. Given the fact that SZV has organized an upcoming healthcare symposium with all stakeholders on March 19th, 2015- to determine the future of healthcare on St. Maarten -I felt we should capitalize on this opportunity and be efficient with our time and that of the professional stakeholders. I strongly believe that Parliament, Government and all internal and external stakeholders should be synchronizing our efforts and leading St. Maarten in one direction.
MP De Weever further stated that it is equally important that all members of parliament are aware of the status of these institutions hence his request for SZV, SMMC and Public Health to update the members. “The Objective of having this meeting before the conference was to ensure that the four agenda points will be taken into consideration and establish St. Maarten’s position collectively,” said MP De Weever. This will become St. Maarten’s position paper in the upcoming healthcare conference in Aruba from June 1-4, 2015 that we can defend. We should all be on the same page moving forward.