Minister of Public Health, Social Development and Labor (VSA), Richinel Brug, has announced significant progress in the ongoing Healthcare Professional Registrar Project, with the project now entering an important next phase focused on stakeholder review, system design, and legislative preparation.
According to Minister Brug, several key components of the project have already been completed
over the past months, including stakeholder consultations, legislative analyses, comparative
reviews of healthcare registration systems within the Dutch Kingdom and the region, as well as
working visits to Aruba and Curaçao to assess best practices and opportunities for collaboration.
The Minister noted that the project team has also completed important groundwork related to the
future operational and legislative structure of the healthcare professional registry.
“We are now moving into a very important stage of the project where stakeholder feedback and
practical system design will help shape the final direction of the healthcare registrar for Sint
Maarten, prior to drafting the actual legislation,” Minister Brug stated.
The next step in the project is the finalization of the discovery report, which will incorporate
feedback and input received from all relevant stakeholders consulted throughout the process.
Once finalized, the report, together with proposed design options for the type of health registry
Sint Maarten should establish, will be distributed to stakeholders for review during June and July
2026.
Minister Brug explained that stakeholder involvement remains critical to ensuring that the final
registry system is practical, transparent, effective, and tailored to Sint Maarten’s healthcare
environment.
To continue the consultation process, the project team intends to host a follow-up stakeholder
meeting during mid-to-late August 2026. During this session, stakeholders will have the
opportunity to openly discuss the proposed registry models, provide additional feedback, and
assist in refining the preferred design for the future healthcare professional registry.
This consultation phase will also help prepare the project for the next operational stage,
including the publication of the Terms of Reference (TOR) for the ICT Specialist, which will
support the development of the future digital registry platform.
Following completion of the stakeholder consultation process, the project’s starting note is
expected to be finalized during the third quarter of 2026 once all relevant stakeholder
information has been incorporated. This will allow the legislative draftsman to formally
commence the drafting process for the updated healthcare legislation required to support the
registrar.
“This project is about building a stronger and more transparent healthcare system for the people
of Sint Maarten. By establishing clear professional standards and a proper registration
framework for Sint Maarten, we are taking important steps to strengthen healthcare governance,
improve oversight, and safeguard patient safety for years to come,” the Minister concluded.
