WILLEMSTAD – The Curaçao Medical Center (CMC) has once again been forced to postpone patient surgeries, new CEO Johan de Graaf announced during a Facebook live session. The exact number of affected operations has not yet been disclosed.

According to De Graaf, the delays are the result of a shortage of staff in the operating rooms, a problem that has plagued the hospital for some time. This is not the first time that surgeries have had to be rescheduled due to staffing challenges.

Currently, CMC relies on temporary specialists to keep operations running. De Graaf stressed that these external professionals are very costly, which is why he intends to recruit more permanent staff from within the region. “We hope and expect that within a month all vacancies will be filled,” he said. However, he also insisted that this would only be possible if the National Ordinance on Capping Top Incomes (LNT) for medical specialists is adjusted to allow higher salaries.

In addition to postponed procedures, around one thousand patients remain on the hospital’s waiting list, particularly for surgeries in the general surgery department.