PHILIPSBURG--The bureaucracy dealing with the application for and issuance of medical and social welfare, the length of time it takes for persons applying for these services to obtain a response and the cutting of these services from recipients were among the long list of concerns expressed by Members of Parliament (MPs) during a meeting of the Central Committee of Parliament on the subject Monday.
The meeting, requested by the National Alliance (NA) in late August, was to discuss medical and social aid and the labour situation.
Health, Labour and Social Affairs Minister Cornelius de Weever and members of his staff and the ministry were present at the meeting, which was adjourned to next week Monday, October 9, after the first round of questioning on the first agenda point.
National Alliance (NA) Member of Parliament (MP) Louie Laveist was critical of the six-week time frame it takes for applicants for social aid to receive a response. He said too that on many occasions recipients would visit the bank to collect their social welfare and no funds would be there. He said "all hell breaks loose" when this happened, because recipients would be unable to pay their rent and unable to "feed their children."
Laveist said some sort of structure had to be put in place to prevent this situation from recurring. He said NA had called the meeting due to the numerous concerns it had been receiving from the public about this matter. "This is our reasoning to call this meeting. It's not for political reasons. Too many persons fall into situations like these and they meet us and talk to us about it."
Laveist was critical of what he said was government's move to cut the social aid of some recipients when their pensions have been increased. He said pensions usually were increased to combat the spiralling cost of living and hikes in utility cost, etc., and when government reduced social aid because of a pension increase, it defeated the purpose of the increase.
"The pension fund tries to assist people with the ever-increasing cost of living, but then government pulls the rug from under [recipients] by reducing the amount they receive as social welfare," said Laveist.
He asked the minister to indicate whether social aid had been cut for the 2010-2011 period, why the cuts had been executed and whether further cuts were planned. He also asked whether there had been any increases and by how much. Laveist also requested copies of several documents, some of which President of Parliament Gracita Arrindell said would be provided by mail and the others by De Weever.
Independent MP Patrick Illidge concurred with Laveist's statements and said he understood the challenges facing Minister de Weever "seeing the deterioration of the economy." Illidge said the high utility cost coupled with the cost of living were "playing a vital role" in consumers' hardships. He said government should "look and seek ways to make life for the people of this country a bit easier in terms of the procedures in which things happen."
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