In the area of health care, St. Maarten tends to become more and more self-supporting. The St. Maarten Medical Center is developing a more dominant position, White and Yellow Cross develops its services and there are about 25 general practitioners and the newly established Mental Health organization operating in the field. On the other hand more and more patients need the services of several institutions and/or professionals at the same time or in a certain sequence. Especially persons with a chronicle disease, a mental problem, persons who had a cardio vascular accident or persons in a specific age-bracket (babies and toddlers) will do better with a stronger collaboration in the health care sector.
At the conference, which will be held at Great Bay Beach Resort, keynote speakers Javier Asin and Leo Kliphuis will provide a clear picture about the advantages and disadvantages of case management and how to set it up; best practices and case studies will be presented, and participants will take a look at case management in St. Maarten, from the perspectives of Government, the medical sector, health insurance companies and patient organizations. The ultimate aim is to discuss the establishment of managed care in St. Maarten and define realistic goals for 2009 and beyond, under the theme "as strong as the weakest link."
Drs. Wuite explained that the conference and its goals fit within Government's Public Health Policy Plan, of which several elements have meanwhile been achieved. "We did not totally achieve multi-disciplinary cooperation as yet, and with this conference we want to bring it under the attention. First we'll "scout" the area, to see what its pros and cons are, how it is approached here and how we can all achieve a better system," she said. The Director said that the Sector Health Care Affairs underscores the importance of cooperation and believes in a joint approach toward achieving improvement. "During the conference the flow of information will not be one-sided; there will be presentations and we will look at best-practices from abroad, but the intention is that all actors in the health sector should get the opportunity to speak their minds."
Sector Health Care Affairs has contracted For A Change NV to organize the conference. drs. Pyt Lucas, principal of For A Change NV said that opening the communication channels is important to achieve an improvement in the sector. "The information we will gather during the conference is important to get a better insight in the ‘Case Management' system on our island. It will help bring improvements," he said.
