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THE HAGUE--More cooperation in the area of quality health care and inspection, less waste through the joint purchase of medication, reducing cost by clustering specialist care and the reduction of medical referrals.
These are the main objectives that the Parliaments of Aruba, Curaçao, St. Maarten and the Netherlands would like to see worked out at the Kingdom Health Care Conference which will be held in Aruba early June 2015.
The four Parliaments sent a joint letter to the Ministers of Public Health of Aruba, Curaçao, St. Maarten and the Netherlands on Friday, the last day of the Inter-Parliamentary Consultation of the Kingdom IPKO which was held in Aruba. The objectives of the Kingdom Health Care Conference were part of the Agreement List that was signed on Friday.
In the letter, signed by Presidents of Parliament Marisol Lopez-Tromp of Aruba, Mike Franco of Curaçao and Lloyd Richardson of St. Maarten and Chairman of the delegation of the First and Second Chamber of the Dutch Parliament Jeroen Recourt, the ministers were urged to support the Kingdom Health Care Conference and to guarantee sustainable cooperation between the countries in the area of health care.
The Aruba Parliament has committed to organise this health care conference where politicians and health care professionals from throughout the Kingdom will exchange thoughts on how to realise a more intensive and effective cooperation in this area.
The IPKO decided last week that it would like to see a joint purchase of care, medication and medical instruments, the exchange and clustering of the different specialist areas and knowledge between health care institutions. The main objective of the cooperation was to reduce health care cost, also in relation to the referral of patients abroad.
In January 2012, the four Parliaments established the Health Care Work Group which has been looking at ways to improve coordination and cooperation in the Kingdom in order to realise affordable and high quality health care provisions as close to home as possible.
This could be realised through, among others, mutual support to strengthen the hospitals on the islands. The St. Maarten Medical Center (SMMC) was specifically mentioned as the hospital for people of St. Eustatius and Saba.
The Parliaments were also in favour of the clustering of specialist areas whereby certain hospitals on the islands would become the prime location for high quality specialist care such as cardiology or oncology. This would benefit the level of care and save cost.
Aruba Minister of Public Health Alex Schwengle gave a presentation on the Kingdom Health Care Conference last Wednesday. It was decided that the outcome of this conference will be discussed at the next IPKO, which will take place in The Hague May 27-29. Representing St. Maarten in the Health Care Work Group is Lloyd Richardson.
