Philipsburg: --- Members of the Windward Islands Teachers Union, (WITU) Windward Islands Civil Servant Unions (WICSU/PSU) and the ABVO said at a press conference said that they have had enough regarding the FZOG and the unions are ready to take action. Claire Elshot of the WITU said that when the unions noticed that the St. Maarten Medical Center has said via the newspapers that they were not going to accept the FZOG cards as of June 6 if the hospital does not receive is backlog payments, the WICSU and WITU met to discuss ways of handling the issue.
Elshot said the unions made a complete evaluation over the last weeks regarding FZOG and the full announcement from the SMMC. She said the unions immediately addressed the matter with the Minister of Health, parliament, while they also sought to meet with the inspector of public health.
Elshot said they were made to understand that the problem between St. Maarten Medical Center and the FZOG has been resolved since the SVB (Social Insurance Bank) made a payment to the St. Maarten Medical Center while they also have a payment plan in place.
Despite this happening the St. Maarten Medical Center has not announced that there has been an agreement.
Elshot said several of the pensioners are contacting them to see what measures have been taken since they do not want to go the hospital and be turned away.
The unionist said one of their main objectives via the media is to denounce any type of threats from health care providers. “Threatening to withhold Medicare is against human rights and using the weakest link such as pensioners to solve administrative matters is an inhumane tactic used by the St. Maarten Medical Center.” Elshot said.
The unionist further explained that she felt the SMMC has lacked respect by not even announcing that they now have an agreement and FZOG card holders can now go the hospital if they are in need of medical treatment. Elshot said the unions also took note of the statements made by the Minister of Health Omyra Leeflang who also said that the actions taken by the St. Maarten Medical Center is of grave violation of human rights.
Elshot is also calling on all pensioners to make contact with the unions and re-register so that they can have a proper head count of their pensioners so that they can properly champion their causes.
Elshot said this is not the first time the St. Maarten Medical Center or other entities have chosen the weakest link (pensioners) to achieve their goals but the unions she said has had enough and would now take action if needed.
Elshot said they are also seeking to have a meeting with the executive council to address the matter. She said they (the unions) believe that it is the responsibility of the island government to guarantee the best health care insurances for pensioners since they already contributed to the funds by serving on the island. She said the island government has to also make sure there is some sort of firm solution to the ongoing problems facing pensioners.
Elshot said right now the BZV card holders would also be integrated with the SVB something they are monitoring closely since they do believe that their members should be respected. In a word of caution she said any more acts of violation against their membership would force them to take drastic measures and actions.
The unions are presently mobilizing and informing their active members of the ongoing developments so that they can be ready to take action when necessary. She said the unions would also be calling on the active members to back up the pensioners because this problem would also trickle down to them. “The abuse that is facing the pensioners today would also face the active members down the line. All civil servants are contributing to the FZOG funds so they can benefit from it in the future.”
Elshot said she is not even convince with what parliament is saying because the FZOG funds were established since 1975 (34-year old) and it has been kicked around from one administrator to the next. Elshot said already three different administrations handled this fund and every time there is a change in administrators the benefits would decrease.
Elshot said this is one point they intend to raise with the island government because they cannot as union accept the constant decrease because of someone’s deficiency.
(Right now pensioners are called to pay 10% in advance before they can have their prescription filled, while they still cannot get all their medications at once.) The WITU leader said she cannot sit back and see these types of abuse and not warn her active members, instead they would begin bind and mobilize their members to fight back. “If that is not done these members would be paying a premium and would not get anything back in return which is unheard of. Elshot said the unions are looking for equalization for all pensioners and active civil servants with is mandatory in the Kingdom. The unions believe its time that the FZOG funds should be re-integrated back to the funds that are handling that of the active civil servants. ‘This is the same system that was recommended to handle the Dutch pensioners and the BES islands when the islands are dismantled. Equalization and fare treatment is what the unions are suggesting as the solution. However, the unions believe its time for the local governments both on St. Maarten and Curacao can demand the same benefits for its islands. Furthermore, they believe the island government should hold parliament responsible for anything that is not properly managed since they are the ones who suggested that the funds be handled by SVB. Elshot said the unions are not concerned with the amounts of monies that is owed to the medical institutions however, they want to make sure that the health care for their members are not being threatened.
Elshot further explained that the unions does not believe the SMMC should decide what is an emergency and what is not instead all referrals from house doctors to the hospital should be treated and handled without discussion.
She said that while the SMMC said they did not really want to apply such members they are to be considered crooks because they (SMMC) could have called in their social partners which are the unions and dialogue on the matter. She said the director of the SMMC Mr. George Scot attended one of their meetings with the pensioners so he fully well knows that the union was addressing the matter.
Raymond Jesserun from the ABVO referred to the World Health Organization definition of health in 1946 which stated that the complete physical, mental social well being and not merely the absence the of infirmity and diseases. He said when the SMMC threatened people that they would not be getting their medicine and or treatment is also affecting their mental state and well being.
He said they are happy that the Minister of Health has spoken out since government is not only there to denounce but to prevent the abuse of human rights.
He said the Kingdom charter in article 43 states that each of the islands has to see that the fundamental human rights and freedoms as well as legal certainty and good governance are respected. He said health care is a fundamental right to the highest level which is outline in article 35 of the declaration of human rights.
Jesserun said everyone is entitled to certain standard of living which is adequate to their well being. He said it is time for the island government to come out and demand what is given to Bonaire, Saba and Statia since the two islands St. Maarten and Curacao are still part of the Netherlands Antilles and if the Kingdom has it for those islands then they also have it for them.
He said pensioner’s standard of living dropped the minute they stopped working and with the recent serge in prices for food and other basic necessities they were no indexation to compete instead these people are called to pay monies up front for their medication.
Responding to some of the statements made by the SMMC, Jesserun said while they are saying they don’t want to harm the pensioners they are killing them by denying them health care. “It the same SMMC who denied a patient Medicare and sent him home, this patient died two days later and the SMMC director said he was making sure they (SMMC) did everything according to protocol because they did not want to be held liable for a crime.”
Reason why they have chosen to speak out because attaching health care is already a violation of human rights.