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PHILIPSBURG--Independent Member of Parliament (MP) Cornelius de Weever said on Thursday that St. Maarten Medical Center (SMMC) should finalise the tariff study, which he said would justify any increase of tariffs at the medical institution.
De Weever, the former Health Minister, said SMMC only recently participated in a tariff study. A tariff study is currently being carried out by ACSION with SMMC. De Weever claimed that the study is being delayed, because SMMC "is not providing the financial information in a timely manner."
He made the statements in reaction to comments made by St. Maarten Medical Center (SMMC) General Director Kees Klareenbeek regarding the hospital's dire financial straits. In an article published in The Daily Herald on Thursday, Klareenbleek painted the grim picture of the institution's financial situation, noting that the institution had been operating in the red and that the low tariffs and high unpaid tab were major issues of concern.
According to De Weever, the matter of the increase of the tariffs in November 2011 was documented by ministerial decrees. He also questioned the 25-per-cent figure mentioned as being below cost. Klarenbeek had said the current tariffs at SMMC are some 25 per cent below actual cost.
The MP said SMMC had been declared a central hospital similar to St. Elizabeth Hospital SEHOS in Curacao, where the tariffs had been increased, and included additional services, which were not previously offered by SMMC, such as cardiology.
Klarenbeek's reference to SEHOS was to explain that SMMC was already operating at a disadvantage prior to the dismantling of the Netherlands Antilles in October 2010, when it had been receiving 70 per cent of the tariffs, compared to St. Elizabeth Hospital in Curacao, with the latter being considered the main hospital at the time and SMMC was just considered a supporting hospital.
The MP alluded to a statement issued by the Cabinet of the Health Ministry in December 2011, which read: "A team consisting of representatives of the Department of Public Health and Cabinet of the minister responsible for public health, conducted a small study to determine to what extent the provisions outlined in the Ordinance regulating the transition of country status (overgangsverordening), can be used to adopt the tariffs for medical care provided in SEHOS to St. Maarten Medical Center (SMMC). In line with the results of the study, Minister of Public Health, Social Development and Labour Cornelius de Weever signed the ministerial decree on SMMC tariffs on November 18, 2011."
The MP said the study concluded that SMMC and SEHOS were both regarded as equivalent hospitals by means of national decree; SEHOS was regarded as the national hospital of the former Netherlands Antilles, and in accordance to article 7 of the transitional ordinance, the minister has the mandate to designate SMMC as the body which replaces SEHOS. "This ultimately entails that the rates established for services provided in SEHOS can also be applied to SMMC," he said.
