PHILIPSBURG:--- Minister of Health Cornelius de Weever told members of the media on Wednesday that he is the sole Minister in charge of Public Health on St. Maarten. He also admitted that there is political interference with the SMMC expansion plans. Minister de Weever said while he is the one in charge there is a photograph in the newspaper showing Member of Parliament Theodore Heyliger and the Minister of Finance Martin Hassink discussing the expansion and renovation of the St. Maarten Medical Center (SMMC). He felt that if there are coalition partners in government then there must be transparency among the partners. Furthermore, the SMMC expansion plan has been in discussion for the past 15 years. "This project was on the table before the causeway."
He said that when discussions were taking place with the Central Bank they made clear that there can be no discussion on the expansion of SMMC without the Minister of Health involved. "I want to state that I believe that I inherited a broken system and I as well as the Prime Minister have been working tirelessly to move SMMC forward."
Minister de Weever said he already instructed SZV to provide SMMC with the necessary loans for them to do their much needed repairs at the institution.
Minister de Weever further explained that its been some years now that the SMMC expansion project has been on the table but to date it cannot be done. "I can tell you it was on the table before the causeway." However, he made clear that the expansion of SMMC is not just about a building but a comprehensive plan must be in place. He said one can have a building but if the necessary specialists and equipment are not in place then St. Maarten would still have to send its patients abroad for further medical treatment.
He said they are busy with health care reform and there is no other way, while they are also busy working on quality indicators to ensure that the quality of health care on St. Maarten continues to improve, he made also explained that even though they are working on all of this nothing will happen overnight. The Minister said they are working on a comprehensive plan which they intend to continue to work on. Minister de Weever said the reason he ordered SZV to finance the expansion of SMMC was because the CFT made clear that government cannot finance SMMC because of its current structure. He made stated that people should not be playing politics with health care or other people's lives even though there are two flourishing funeral homes on St. Maarten.