~ Christian Union wants health care crisis solved ~
THE HAGUE--Instead of paying for treatment of patients from St. Eustatius and Saba in hospitals in Guadeloupe and Colombia, the Dutch Government should invest in the St. Maarten Medical Center (SMMC).
That is according to the Christian Union (CU) faction in the Dutch Parliament's Second Chamber and its representative Member of Parliament (MP) Cynthia Ortega-Martijn. The latter presented a 30-page memorandum describing the issues that Bonaire, St. Eustatius and Saba have been confronted with, since they became Dutch "public entities" on October 10, 2010, to Minister of Home Affairs and Kingdom Relations Piet Hein Donner, on Thursday.
The memo includes a rather elaborate chapter on the health care situation on the islands as well as various recommendations to solve what Ortega-Martijn called a "crisis" which requires immediate action before things "escalate."
One of the recommendations is referral of patients from St. Eustatius and Saba to SMMC, where possible. SMMC has presented expansion plans for a modern hospital with super-specialist care. The hospital is seeking cooperation with the Dutch Bronovo and Juliana hospitals.
"The CU finds that it would be better for the Dutch Government to invest in a hospital in St. Maarten that is part of the Dutch Kingdom than to pay for medical treatment in hospitals elsewhere. The CU would like to see a cooperation of the Minister of Public Health, Wellbeing and Sports and management of SMMC," it was stated.
Especially in St. Eustatius and Saba, people are upset about the procedure of medical referrals. They say they are worse off than before October 10, 2010. Patients are having trouble getting their medication, glasses and hearing aids. Patients are not allowed to see their "own" medical specialist that they used to go to before October 2010, and people have to wait weeks or months before they can see a medical specialist abroad.
The strict, inflexible attitude of the health care bureau is a major cause of the problems. There is no leeway for exceptional and urgent cases. The CU would have liked to see a transition period, so people could get accustomed to the new system and procedures. "This could have prevented a lot of irritation," stated Ortega-Martijn. The CU pressed for a quick scan of the workings of the health care regulation.
Language is also a problem for patients who are referred to Guadeloupe or Colombia. "In her response to questions of Parliament, the Minister says that she isn't aware of any language issues. That is strange, because in St. Eustatius and Saba, they say that patients can't understand their doctors. General practitioners on the islands and Island Council members don't get any response to their questions about patients who are referred abroad."
Ortega-Martijn referred to a public hearing that she had attended during her visit to St. Eustatius this summer and the specific case of a man who had been waiting since April to visit a cardiologist. "He is a ticking time bomb. This is craziness," she stated.
The MP posed questions to Minister Edith Schippers of Public Health, Wellbeing and Sports VWS, in which she sought clarity on the decision to select Guadeloupe and Colombia. She asked if it was correct that only persons with Dutch nationality could travel to Guadeloupe. She further wanted to know whether it was true that people who needed to do an MRI scan in Guadeloupe were sent back home because of a long waiting time.
According to local government officials, VWS didn't take culture, identity, best practices, the existing medical infrastructure and knowledge of doctors and pharmacies sufficiently into account, when it drafted the health care regulation for the public entities in 2010.
The CU is challenging the Minister to show that the health care regulation was properly drafted. The party will request an independent investigation into the process of drafting the regulation, if the Minister fails to prove this.
The memo also addressed the issue of the state of the hospital in St. Eustatius and Saba. "The quality of Saba's hospital is not what it should be. It bears similarities to a third world hospital with an intensive care unit that was built in a garage. Agreements had been made in talks with with Saba's Government prior to October 10, 2010 that a new hospital would be built. Similar agreements were made with St. Eustatius," stated Ortega-Martijn.
The CU supports the construction of a new hospital in St. Eustatius and Saba and condemned the attitude by The Hague that it preferred a renovation of the existing Queen Beatrix Medical Centre in St. Eustatius. Ortega-Martijn pointed out that building a new hospital in St. Eustatius would be cheaper than renovating the existing facility.
The CU presented four recommendations to solve the health care crisis: a European reimbursement system for medication that takes the situation on the islands into account, a more flexible system for medical referrals, the option to choose from the various health care insurance companies and to take additional insurance, and instituting an independent complaints bureau.
Dance music UK security and terrorism Executive pay and bonuses Dmitry Medvedev South Korea US politics
No comments:
Post a Comment