Dr. Gerard van Osch during his presentation to Parliament on Thursday.
PHILIPSBURG--Government does not have a sustainable plan on how to proceed with HIV care and treatment for the future, St. Maarten AIDS Foundation founder/president Dr. Gerard van Osch told Members of Parliament (MPs) on Thursday.
Dr. van Osch delivered a presentation on the public health and financial implications relating to HIV/AIDS in St. Maarten.
“We have to look into how government has not been involved in care and treatment for HIV in St. Maarten,” said Dr. van Osch to Parliament. He said St. Maarten was one of the first countries on the Caribbean to start HIV treatment back in 1992, but is now the last country in the Caribbean in which its government does not have a sustainable plan on how to proceed with HIV care and treatment for the future.
He explained that offering care and treatment to persons living with HIV is not an ethical problem anymore, but rather a public health problem. “If you do not treat everyone who is living with HIV in your community it not only lets morbidity/illness rise, but also you continue to allow the transmission of HIV in your community,” he said.
The doctor told Parliament that in 2001 the then-ruling government had approved an HIV/AIDS strategic plan for St. Maarten. The HIV programme management team led by Suzette Moses worked from 2002 to 2014.
Another strategic plan was developed in 2014, but it was never implemented. He said that strategic plan contained the first initiative for government to become more involved with care and treatment.
Also, a policy for St. Maarten was developed in 2013, channelled through the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO). He said this plan was to develop an HIV/AIDS care standard for St. Maarten. He noted that this document might not be up to date, but could still be used as a base to see how the country could move forward.
The doctor said that St. Maarten AIDS Foundation had held a meeting with Collective Prevention Services (CPS) recently, during which the foundation mentioned the drafted 2013 policy to CPS and was able to provide the department with a copy of the document.
“Unfortunately, we [the foundation – Ed.] think that government has not made a plan on how to make HIV care and treatment sustainable in St. Maarten,” said Dr. van Osch. “Government will have to decide if it will offer HIV treatment to everyone, including those persons who are uninsured.”
He said he had been treating uninsured persons living with HIV since 1990. There is a budget set aside by the foundation for treatment of 20 uninsured persons. This amounts to roughly NAf. 100,000 a year. Based on his calculations, the lifetime cost for a person treated for HIV, living a normal life span, would add up to NAf. 464,000, with the current pricing of medications/treatment.
Dr. van Osch informed MPs that he will be leaving the island in October. He said it not new to government that he is leaving the island.
“It’s crunch time that we come up with some form of solution to make care and treatment for people living with HIV – all people, not only the insured – sustainable for the future,” he told MPs. “Treatment for all is a requirement, it’s 100% a public health issue and I think it’s time we look at this situation and don’t just look at Dr. van Osch or the AIDS Foundation to solve this problem,” said Dr. van Osch.
