CAY HILL:--- The Minister of Health and several members of the board of the St. Maarten Medical Center (SMMC) have raised concerns over the hiring of the hospital's new director Gersi Perreria. According to reliable information provided to SMN News, Perreria was employed at the Ljselmeerziekenhuizen. Several news articles found online stated that Perreria resigned after the scandal broke which involves corruption and mismanagement. According to the articles on the internet, the hospital that Perreria worked at had to close its doors because of mismanagement. The Ljselmeerziekenhuizen had a deficit that amounted to 7 million Euros in 2008 mainly because there were not sufficient patients. According to the articles, the hospital stated that they did not have confidence in Perreria.
The articles state that the hospitals were located in two small towns and they were not having enough patients. The Inspectorate of Health in the Netherlands also intervened and determined that the operating rooms were not sterile enough which could have caused infections. While all of this information is available online, the four members of the Supervisory Board of St. Maarten Medical Center did not conduct any background check prior to hiring the new director.
According to a reliable source, some members of the Supervisory Board did not want to hire Perreria because of the allegations and unsolved problems he has at Ljselmeerziekenhuizen in the Netherlands. SMN News also learned that the specialists of the St. Maarten Medical Center protested against the hiring of Perreria because of what took place at the institution in the past. However, other members of the supervisory board voted in favor of hiring Perreria as the new director of SMMC.
SMN News contacted Minister of Health Cornelius de Weever who is currently off island and he said that he is aware of the situation regarding the new director of the St. Maarten Medical Center. Minister De Weever did not divulge any information regarding the concerns except to say that he sent a letter to the chairman of the supervisory board expressing his concerns over the hiring of someone that has a questionable background.
It should be noted that the 2012 financials of SMMC showed that the medical institution suffered a huge loss of monies which cannot be accounted for. Efforts made to reach the Inspectorate of Health for a comment proved futile as Dr. Earl Best is currently on vacation.
