Philipsburg:--- The island council meeting called on Monday to ratify the Service Level Agreement between the Social Insurance Bank and Country St. Maarten (ZBO) was accepted unanimously after a heated and long debate on the floor of the island council.Commissioner of Health Hyacinth Richardson urged the council to vote in favor of the SLA a proposal given by the SVB some days ago. Richardson said the National Health Insurance (NHI) is not ready and this is why the island needs the SLA which would last until the end of the year.
The members of the opposition posed several questions when the SLA was discussed in the Central Committee meeting and some of the answers they said were not provided to them for the meeting. Questions pertaining to how much this would cost St. Maarten and what would happen to the SVB employees after 10/10/10 they said are yet to be answered.
The opposition also spoke of how long the NHI is being worked on and to date it is not ready even though the NHI was scheduled to be implemented last January. Former Commissioner of Health Maria Buncamper said government began working on the NHI since 2006 and to date it is not completed. She criticized the National Alliance Government for not having the NHI in place and having to opt for an SLA.
Island Council member Louis Laveist obviously having enough of the bickering and questions posed by the opposition reminded them that the people of St. Maarten do not want to hear what was done and what not done since they were at the helm of government for almost ten years and they did not ensure everything was in place for country St. Maarten yet they were the ones who said the island was ready for Country.
Laviest looked squarely at the opposition and told them that he knows they are the ones who are going to be handling health in the new setting and what the people wants to hear from them is how and when they are going to finalize the NHI.
"The NHI is going to affect each and everyone on St. Maarten and the people do want to hear any bickering. I am also urging the speakers who spoke before me to change their attitude when attending to the people's business. This blame game must stop. When we are talking about the health insurance plan for the people the blame game does not cut it." Laviest said the people are sick and tired of the blame game.The island council man said he could also take the lectern and play the same blame game because he knows who was at the helm of the constitutional process for ten years. He asked if he did so if that would benefit the people regarding their status after 10/10/10. Laveist said the people do not care who was in charge all they want to know is who will get the NHI done. He said the people just want to know if they will have health insurance and when it will be done. "These people in here including my family and your family do not want to hear anything about tires on a police car at this point in time."
The people know that you the opposition members will be part of the incoming government and they also know that you will be responsible for the health portfolios. So, come here and tell the people if you will get the NHI done and when and how it will be done. The people know that when this process began you were the captain of this wheel and they also know that there was no parliament building in place. They also know who said the island was ready and that the civil servants positions were not in place too. Laveist said the time for petty politics has long gone and no one cares who is teaming with whom to run their affairs.
