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PHILIPSBURG:--- The Minister of Public Health, Social Development, and Labor, Omar Ottley has recently signed off on draft legislation that will allow for measures to be taken by Social & Health Insurances SZV to improve the quality and minimize stock issues of prescribed medication, in addition to reducing the purchasing costs.

Once the draft legislation is officially approved by Parliament, the necessary projects can be implemented later this year by SZV, together with the Pharmacists Association Sint Maarten (PAS) and the Department of Public Health Read more

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Dust Warning; Those Susceptible Remain Cautious.

PHILIPSBURG:---The Minister of Public Health, Social Development and Labor, Omar Ottley hereby informs the public of a lot of dust ahead. People with pulmonary or eye conditions should take the necessary precautions. In distinguishing the possible symptoms from COVID-19, the latter has more systemic effects/symptoms; headaches, fever, sore muscles Read more

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Caribbean Cinemas In Cole Bay New Covid-19 Vaccination Pop-Up Location. Belair Community Center Temporarily Closed

PHILIPSBURG (DCOMM):--- The Vaccination Management Team (VMT) announced on Tuesday, June 15th, that Caribbean Cinemas in Cole Bay will be used as a new vaccination Pop-Up location starting Thursday, June 17th.
This location will be open for vaccination walk-ins from Monday to Friday from 9:00 AM to 2:00 PM. The VMT would like to publicly express its gratitude to Caribbean Cinemas for their generous offer to make their facility available to the national vaccination campaign.
This new location has been opened because the Belair Community Center will not be available for COVID-19 vaccinations between Thursday, June 17th and Wednesday, June 30th Read more

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PHILIPSBURG:--- The Minister of Public Health, Social Development, and Labor Omar Ottley extends his heartfelt condolences to the family and friends of Sint Maartens 32nd COVID-19 victim, who has passed away. He wishes the family strength during this time.

As of June 14th, there were ten (10) persons who tested positive for COVID-19; however, thirteen (13) persons have recovered; bringing the total active cases to sixty-eight (68) Read more

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PHILIPSBURG:--- Minister of Public Health, Social Development and Labor, Omar Ottley hereby informs the public that he has received the final approval from the Netherlands for the food assistance program.

A grant will be provided by the Netherlands to execute the food assistance program for the next two months with the possibility to extend for an additional two months Read more

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PHILIPSBURG:--- Minister of Public Health, Social Development and Labor, Omar Ottley would like to inform the public that as of Monday, June 14th, residents of Sint Maarten, Saba, Sint Eustatius, and Bonaire can enter the country without a negative rt-PCR or antigen test once they are fully vaccinated for two weeks or more after their second dose in a 2-dose series of the Pfizer, AstraZeneca or Moderna vaccines or two weeks after a single-dose vaccine of the Johnson & Johnsons Janssen vaccine.

EHAS has been updated and will now issue a QR code with each Health Authorization Pre-Approval as of June 9th Read more

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PHILIPSBURG:--- The Minister of Public Health, Social Development, and Labor Omar Ottley extends his sincere condolences to the family and friends of Sint Maartens 31st COVID-19 victim, who has passed away. Heartfelt thoughts go out to the family in this time of sorrow.

As of June 10th, there were eight (8) persons who tested positive for COVID-19; however, one (1) person had recovered; bringing the total active cases to seventy-seven (77) Read more

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PHILIPSBURG:---  Minister of Public Health, Social Development and Labor, Omar Ottley would hereby like to inform the public that the job portal, previously referred to as www.jobopportunities.sx is being revamped and relaunched. An agreement was signed on Tuesday, June 8th with Sites on the US, and the work to roll out the tasks has begun.

The job portal will serve as the primary tool for the National Employment Service Center (NESC) and will aid greatly in boosting the job matching process between employers and suitable job seekers Read more

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PHILIPSBURG:---  The Minister of Public Health, Social Development, and Labor, Omar Ottley met with Myles Christian Turner of the Indiana Pacers Basketball team and discussed ways of promoting and increasing safe tourism on the Island. On behalf of Myles foundation, W.A.R.M, he is donating 10k worth of masks for children and young adults on the island Read more

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PHILIPSBURG:--- The Minister of Public Health, Social Development, and Labor, Omar Ottley extends his deepest condolences to the family and friends of Sint Maartens 30th COVID-19 victim, who has passed away. He wishes the family strength during their time of grief.

As of June 8th, there were eleven (11) persons who tested positive for COVID-19; however, twelve (12) persons have recovered; bringing the total active cases to seventy-five (75) Read more

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PHILIPSBURG:--- On behalf of the Hon. Minister of Justice, Ms. Anna E. Richardson; the Hon. Minister of TEATT, Ms. Ludmila de Weever; the Hon. Minister of VSA, Mr. Omar Ottley, and the Sint Maarten Tourist Bureau, we would like to express our appreciation to the hardworking Immigration and Customs Officers at the Princess Juliana International Airport (PJIA)and at the Harbor for ensuring a smooth operation of their services on Saturday, June 5th, 2021.

On Saturday, Sint Maarten welcomed our first call for homeporting of 2021, as well as a new flight service coming to the island Read more

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PHILIPSBURG:--- The Minister of Public Health, Social Development, and Labor Omar Ottley extends his heartfelt condolences to the family and friends of Sint Maartens 29th COVID-19 victim, who has passed away. He wishes the family strength during their time of bereavement.

As of June 5th, there were eight (8) persons who tested positive for COVID-19; however, four (4) persons have recovered; bringing the total active cases to eighty-two (82) Read more

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PHILIPSBURG:--- St. Maarten had much to celebrate on Saturday morning as the island made history by beginning Homeporting for cruise lines. The first cruise line that opted to begin their Caribbean cruise from St. Maarten is Celebrity.
Among those that attended the historic ceremony were Members of Parliament Grisha Heyliger Marten, Mellissa Gumbs with Ministers of Education Rodolphe Samuel, Minister of Health Omar Ottley, Minister of Finance Ardwell Irion, Minister of Justice Anna Richardson, Minister of Economic Affairs Ludmilla de Weever, and Prime Minister Silveria Jacobs Read more

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~ For the love of Carnival, vaccinate! ~

PHILIPSBURG:--- The St. Maarten Carnival Development Foundation (SCDF) on Wednesday endorsed the governments Island-wide vaccination awareness campaign The Drive to 85%, SXM race to normalcy. The initiative of Minister of Public Health Omar Ottley, the objective of the campaign is to encourage at least 85% of the community to go out and get vaccinated, in efforts to achieve herd immunity.
President of the SCDF Alston Lourens and Minister Ottley met briefly on Wednesday at which time Lourens assured the Minister that the foundation will do everything it can and use its entire platform to raise awareness and push the vaccination drive Read more

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PHILIPSBURG:--- Minister of Health and Labor Omar Ottley made clear on Wednesday at the Council of Ministers press briefing that employers cannot dismiss employees that have not taken the COVID-19 vaccination. Ottley said that even the government of St. Maarten cannot force the vaccination on any of its civil servants, however, the only thing government and employers could do is to encourage its staff to get vaccinated and those that have questions about the COVID 19 vaccinations should seek out more information from their general practitioner.
The Minister of Health and Labor said that he is fully aware that some businesses have been giving their employees incentives if they take their COVID-19 shots but these employers cannot force or dismiss the employees that have not taken the vaccine.
Businesses he said can arrange for frequent testing at their own expense while they should continue with implementing the guidelines such as wearing masks and sanitizing constantly.
Ottley said since taking office he has enhanced the vaccination drive, right now 38% of the population has taken their vaccinations Read more

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Vmt Announces The End Of Mass Vaccination With Pfizer After July 31St.

PHILIPSBURG (DCOMM):---The Vaccination Management Team (VMT) announced on Monday, May 24th, that the mass vaccination with the Pfizer vaccine at the Belair Community Center, and the Ministry of Public Health, Social Development and Labour (Ministry VSA) Collective Prevention Service (CPS) office will stop after July 31st.
The vaccination campaign started on February 22nd, and to date, the VMT has vaccinated 16.410 persons with the Pfizer vaccine, 35% of the set goal. The aim remains to reach 85% of the adult population (herd immunity) to be sufficiently protected against the COVID-19 virus and mutations Read more

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PHILIPSBURG:--- The Minister of Public Health, Social Development and Labor Omar Ottley hereby informs the public that there were no laboratory reports received today. The total number of confirmed cases remains at two thousand three hundred sixty-six (2366).

Minister Ottley extends his sincere condolences to the family and friends of Sint Maartens 28th COVID-19 victim, who passed away today Read more

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~ No more off-island referrals needed for MRI exams ~

CAY HILL:--- St. Maarten Medical Center (SMMC) officially opened its brand new, state-of-the-art MRI department, dubbed the MRI Suite, during an opening ceremony on May 19, 2021, which was attended by several staff and invited guests including the Minister of VSA, Omar Ottley.

The MRI Suite, which is part of SMMCs Radiology Department, has been a project that started last year with the lease of a special MRI housing unit in the Netherlands and MRI machine from General Electric in the United States.

SMMCs Medical Director Dr Read more

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PHILIPSBURG:--- The Minister of Public Health, Social Development and Labor, Omar Ottley hereby informs the public that we have been seeing a steady rise in the number of confirmed cases.

A total of 44 confirmed cases has been recorded over the past three days. The total active cases have now increased to 63 persons. Minister Ottley stated; it is time for a tough decision to be made, to ensure the safety of our population.

CPS has conducted extensive contact tracing and as a result, 4 clusters have been reported Read more

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PHILIPSBURG:--- As part of the vaccination campaign, The drive to 85%, SXM's race to normalcy, the Minister of Public Health, Social Development, and Labor, Omar Ottley in collaboration with Port St. Maarten, held a bumper sticker handover at Dr. A.C. Wathey Cruise Facility.

The bumper stickers were handed over to the president of the Dutch St Read more

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PHILIPSBURG (DCOMM):---TelEm has provided much-needed internet support to the Vaccination Management Teams (VMT) Pop Up Vaccination community initiative.
As planning is underway for more community vaccination events, TelEm has provided multiple mobile internet devices which can be used during community outreach efforts across various locations.
The device donations were timely as Collective Prevention Services (CPS) from the Ministry of Public Health, Social Development and Labour (Ministry VSA) held its first community Pop-Up clinic in Belvedere on May 8th and they were quickly able to register persons on-site Read more

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~ Political talks begin with USP, and incoming UP MP.~

PHILIPSBURG:--- The Council of Ministers officially suspended the Managing Director of the Princess Juliana International Holding Company Dexter Doncher. Doncher was informed of the suspension by letter late Wednesday night after the Council of Ministers held an emergency meeting and voted. Dexter Doncher was given a warning letter two days prior to the three months suspension.

The Council of Ministers wanted to fire Doncher who followed the instructions of the government to officially dismiss the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Princess Juliana International Airport, Brian Mingo on April 7th Read more

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~ Political talks begin with USP, and incoming UP MP.~

PHILIPSBURG:--- The Council of Ministers officially suspended the Managing Director of the Princess Juliana International Holding Company Dexter Doncher. Doncher was informed of the suspension by letter late Wednesday night after the Council of Ministers held an emergency meeting and voted. Dexter Doncher was given a warning letter two days prior to the three months suspension.

The Council of Ministers wanted to fire Doncher who followed the instructions of the government to officially dismiss the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Princess Juliana International Airport, Brian Mingo on April 7th Read more

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PHILIPSBURG:---Independent MP Christophe Emmanuel said that it is his opinion that the board of SMMC outright lied to the Minister of VSA Omar Ottley when it stated that the Australian national it brought in to run SMMC was here on an evaluation only. The board knew full well what its intentions were until the plan got exposed, the MP said.
MP Emmanuel highlighted last week that the board was going to appoint Grant Muddle, an Australian, as Director of the St Read more

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