There have been some interesting developments on the public health front of late, including the first reverse shoulder replacement surgery at St. Maarten Medical Center (SMMC). Services provided there continue to be expanded and improved despite ongoing construction of the adjacent St. Maarten General Hospital (SMGH), thanks in part to means from the post-Hurricane Irma Dutch-sponsored Trust Fund administered by the World Bank and the involvement of others such as Social and Health Insurances SZV.
Fewer referrals abroad and related savings on, among other things, travel and accommodation expenses is one of the obvious benefits. With all delays suffered in the new hospital project, these short-term investments make even more sense.
The general practitioners post HAP in Simpson Bay was opened too, offering after-office-hours service for cases requiring immediate attention. Until now these often ended up at SMMC’s Emergency Room (ER) without actually being considered an emergency and thus needlessly crowding the facility.
Important is that the HAP limit its role to urgent cases as agreed and leave the rest, including follow-up, to patients’ family doctors, thus preventing a disruption of the medical care system. Giving them full access to timely and correct information is undoubtedly key in that sense.
In addition, the recent Let’s Talk About Sex prostrate cancer awareness panel discussion and subsequent Men’s Night Out had promising turnouts. This shows that local males, long considered a difficult group to reach, are starting to get the message not to ignore and jeopardise their own well-being due to hang-ups about masculinity, etc.
The National Health Insurance (NHI) planned for January 1, 2024, was also in the news. United Democrats (UD) Member of Parliament (MP) Sarah Wescot-Williams said it appears there was no actual consultation on government’s decisions in this regard and that expressed concerns had not been taken seriously.
This came soon after the Windward Islands Teachers Union (WITU) voiced reservations over the current proposal. The response during last week’s Council of Ministers press briefing was that the draft had gone to the tripartite Social Economic Council SER for advice.
Suffice to say that it seems still very much a work in progress.
