We first and foremost wish to state that we are highly sensitive to the private and personal nature of the treatments that our patients undergo at SMMC. The handling of patient information is confidential, private and regulated by laws. We hold this confidentiality high and have utmost respect for the patients, their loved ones and for our staff as well when dealing with this information. This inherently brings along that we cannot and will not comment to public statements regarding treatment of individual patients. However the SMMC is in its full right to defend itself and needs to provide correct information by addressing at this moment the following issues.
Need for expansion of the hospital
When SMMC started 21 years ago there were about 23,000 people living on the island. It is estimated that there are now around 56,000 persons on the Dutch side of St. Maarten. So the population more than doubled. It should be clear that the expansion of our hospital is not a luxury but an urgent necessity.
The financial collapse of the SMMC in 2003 is a known fact. By 2006 we successfully balanced our financial status. Since then we have been improving the quality of care and patient safety and we have been providing more and better services each year. We have been renovating some parts of the present building but it has now become too small and inadequate. In 2007 we had a plan ready to build a new wing on the hospital grounds. This new wing will host a new and improved emergency room department, modern operating theatre, a larger intensive care unit and new medium care unit. The goal of this expansion is to improve the quality of hospital and specialist care on St. Maarten and to be able to attract more doctors, specialists and nurses. On June 28, 2007 the Government of St. Maarten agreed that the hospital and specialist care should be improved and approved a construction subsidy of over Naf. 1 million per year during 5 years from the start of the construction. It is a construction subsidy, not an operational subsidy and is only provided when the construction starts, not before. This is the first and only subsidy that the Government has ever pledged to give SMMC. Up to this present moment the SMMC is not receiving any subsidy from the Government.
The timing of the allegations in the media
Since September 2011 SMMC is working on attracting parties to participate in the bond issue to finance the expansion of the hospital. Six parties already committed. These parties are well established local and regional pension funds, banks and insurance companies. The deadline that we set for the bond issue was August 15, 2012 and we were waiting for the last party to commit. On august 14, 2012 the SMMC had a meeting with the Minister and the concerned party about the financing of the hospital building. The next day the Minister went public with statements about a draft report of the Inspectorate of Health Care. The allegations ventilated, damage the reputation of staff and surely put the SMMC in a bad spotlight with the investors. It is hard to believe that the timing of these allegations and the mentioned deadline is a coincidence.
Draft report of the Inspectorate of Health Care
The Inspector General dr. E. Best refuted publically and in correspondence to SMMC that there is a draft inspection report since he is still working on it. According to the Inspectorate of Health Care, the findings of their draft report need to be made known to the SMMC first. The SMMC did not receive any draft report till this day and the Inspector General has confirmed in the media that he did not send the draft report to the SMMC. On July 12, 2012 SMMC had a meeting with the Inspectorate and the Inspector General stated that there are no urgent matters that he needs to address immediately with the SMMC.
The Minister said that he in possession of the draft audit report. He has provided information to the press on the content of this report while the Inspector General says that the audit report is not completed as yet. The statements of the Minister are very disturbing. They cause great concerns and create unnecessary panic and unrest under our patients, the community and show disrespect to the hospital staff. We expect an ethical and humane approach from our Minister who in the end is responsible for the health of our population. We regret the unfair way in which the SMMC is being handled.
In view of the contradictions in the statements of the Minister and his General Inspector the SMMC is seriously considering to request independent and renowned experts in the field of hospital inspection to conduct an independent investigation at the SMMC.
Allegations about misuse of funds
Last year the President of the Health Committee of Parliament started a public campaign against the SMMC. The SMMC was accused of misusing funds and our General Director of having too many "caps". Since 2006 the SMMC has approved financial statements that are yearly audited by an external accountancy firm. This on request of the Supervisory Council to ensure and confirm that the finances are correctly used and administered. Not once were these statements questioned. Based on the negative publicity and wrongful allegations the General Director in
December 2011 requested the present Minister of Health for an independent audit by Stichting Overheidsaccountants Bureau (SOAB) to conduct an investigation in this area. The Minister however till this day did not reply to this request. We assumed that it was not an issue for the Minister anymore. Last week the Minister and the President of the Health Committee againpublically stated their questions regarding alleged misuse of funds. We question why at this crucial stage in completing the financing of the expansion these questions are posed again.
Wednesday August 22, 2012, at the request of the WIHCUA, the Minister of Health Care addressed the staff of SMMC. He apologized to the staff stating that he stands by his words but it was not his intention to attack the care given in SMMC. Different staff members remarked that his public statements created considerable unrest among patients and the general public and asked him what he is going to do to turn this around. Unfortunately this question was not answered by the Minister.
The Staff, Board of Directors, members of the Supervisory Council and the Management Team are standing together to fight whatever false accusations are made about SMMC. We underline that our focus remains to provide safe, quality hospital care for the residents and visitors of St. Maarten and the surrounding islands. We will keep on working on improving the hospital care including the realization of the much needed expansion.