WILLEMSTAD - Curaçao’s healthcare system is under increasing strain as specialists continue to leave the island’s main hospital, the Curaçao Medical Center (CMC). Gustavo Koeijers, CMC’s only plastic surgeon, is the latest to announce his departure, emigrating to the Netherlands. His exit leaves the island with just one plastic surgeon and exacerbates a critical shortage of specialists.
Koeijers highlighted the alarming situation, stating that fewer than one hundred specialists remain at CMC, and the hospital’s waiting lists are growing longer. "There are only three nephrologists, two ophthalmologists, and now with my departure, just one plastic surgeon," said Koeijers. He noted that in his field alone, patients face a two-year waiting list. "One is none," he emphasized, underscoring the lack of healthcare capacity.
In a sharp critique of the government, Koeijers pointed to what he described as failures in recruitment and support for local specialists. “We’ve been searching for specialists for four to five years now. Minister Javier Silvania has claimed that we don’t want to make sacrifices and that he would bring in Venezuelan, Colombian, and Cuban specialists, but none have arrived. It’s all deception," Koeijers remarked.
He also called attention to the large number of Curaçaoan specialists living in the Netherlands, saying there are around 250 who have stayed abroad due to lack of support for returning to Curaçao. “If you don’t belong to a certain political faction, you’re not considered good enough,” he added.
Koeijers attributes the healthcare crisis to the current government, which he accused of "reinventing the wheel" instead of learning from the healthcare systems in the Netherlands and other islands within the Kingdom of the Netherlands. He warned that the health of Curaçao’s people is at risk and urged the government to develop a long-term healthcare strategy.
“There needs to be a plan for the next thirty to forty years, particularly focused on prevention, and it must not be influenced by politics,” Koeijers said, calling for urgent action to prevent further deterioration of healthcare services on the island.