PHILIPSBURG:--- Prime Minister of St. Maarten Sarah Wescot Williams and Minister of Public Health, Labour, and Social Affairs Cornelius de Weever echoed the same sentiments on Wednesday during the Council of Ministers' weekly press briefing regarding government's decision on their contribution to the General Sickness fund.
Wescot Williams said that the 2.1% contribution government has to pay for extraordinary sickness cost will not be paid.
Wescot Williams explained that the matter that relates to the General Extra Ordinary Sickness fund is misunderstood by many and it's living a life of its own. She said that fund was to make provisions for extra ordinary sickness costs.
Minister de Weever said that the legislation that stipulated that government has to contribute 2.1% to the fund was done when the island was part of the Netherlands Antilles. He said when this legislation was worked upon no one consulted with St. Maarten and the Government of St. Maarten protested against it at the time. Minister de Weever said that St. Maarten never made the payments, therefore a huge debt was created. He explained that when St. Maarten became a country the two former Ministers of Finance did not work on the changes that had to be made to the legislation and neither did they make the payments.
Minister de Weever said just months ago he established a team and they worked endless hours to prepare a Landsbesluit which was signed off by the Governor of St. Maarten. In that LB, the workers in the private sector have to make the payments if they want members of their families to be fully covered by SZV through the General Sickness fund.
The Minister also stated that while he has good relations with members of the media and he has no intention of picking on them, he is calling on the media to do proper research before publication. Minister de Weever said he received an email from a particular journalist and because he did not respond within 24 hours the journalist published her story. He said that his Ministry has been doing all in their power to create awareness on the chikungunya virus that is affecting people through mosquitoes but the numbers are still increasing.
Minister de Weever and the Prime Minister said that government is doing all it can to contain the virus through fogging and proper cleaning. They both called on members of the public to start cleaning their surroundings and to get rid of stagnant water. Wescot Williams said that government workers cannot go into every yard or home to clean therefore the residents have to do what is necessary. She said if persons in the community ask government for assistance they will do everything their power to provide the assistance in order to contain the virus.