WIMA’s interim secretary of the board Dr. Deketh.
PHILIPSBURG--The general practitioners (GPs) of St. Maarten were represented by two separate associations until recently, with the merger of the Windward Islands Medical Association (WIMA) and the St. Maarten Medical Association (SMA).
From now on, all GPs will be under the umbrella of the WIMA and the SMA has ceased to exist. This was announced in a press release on Monday.
The WIMA currently counts 30 members, including three GPs working on St. Eustatius. Until a new board will be elected the current interim board exists of Dr. Anand Raghosing as Chairman, Dr. Hidde Deketh as Secretary and Dr. Johan Datema as Treasurer. With all GPs united, the WIMA will be able to deal with current and future health care challenges more effectively, according to the release.
The WIMA was founded in April 1991 and also included medical specialists back then. The WIMA now represents the GPs in the Windward Islands and stands for collaboration in order to improve primary care and communication with other (Para)medical groups and entities.
Another important goal is the organisation of and support for Continued Medical Education (CME) in order to keep educating (para)medical professionals. Hence, many lectures and medical conferences have been organised by the WIMA throughout the years. “After a few years of only online meetings during the pandemic we are striving to restart such educational events, in face-to-face fashion, soon again,” the release concluded.
