WILLEMSTAD - The Curaçao Medical Center (CMC) is sounding the alarm. The hospital's management and medical staff have declared that the situation regarding healthcare services at the hospital has reached a critical point. In an urgent appeal to the government of Curaçao and other relevant agencies, the hospital warns that the quality of healthcare on the island is at risk. Without swift intervention, the CMC may no longer be able to provide responsible and accessible care.
The CMC management emphasized that since its opening, the hospital has been struggling with financial constraints that severely jeopardize the continuity of care. One of the main issues is the healthcare budget, which the hospital says is insufficient to meet the growing demand for medical services.
Additionally, the implementation of the ‘National Ordinance on Standardization of Top Incomes’ (LNT) is causing difficulties in attracting and retaining medical specialists. As a result, the CMC is at risk of losing nearly twenty percent of its permanent medical specialists in the short term, further limiting access to care.
Visible Impact
The impact of these problems is already evident in various departments of the hospital, according to the CMC. For instance, there is a severe shortage of ophthalmologists, causing patients to wait over 400 days for an outpatient appointment.
This issue is exacerbated by the fact that the CMC lacks the resources to expand its ophthalmology clinic, which is particularly risky for diabetic patients who face an increased risk of blindness without timely care.
The dialysis department is also under heavy strain. Curaçao ranks among the top two in the world in the number of dialysis patients per capita. Currently, the CMC has only three internist-nephrologists, while four are needed to adequately treat all patients.
As a result, about 40 dialysis patients are without a permanent internist and only receive necessary medical attention in emergency situations or when essential care is required. This increases the risk of severe complications such as cardiovascular problems.
The situation is further complicated by the fact that the CMC must report incidents to the Inspector-General of Public Health on a weekly basis. The out-of-hours GP service, located outside the CMC, is also struggling with a shortage of well-trained young doctors, leading to several incidents that are still under investigation.
Letter
In their latest effort to draw attention to the seriousness of the situation, the CMC’s management and medical staff have sent a letter to the government of Curaçao, as well as to the Dutch Ministries of Health, Welfare, and Sport (VWS) and the Ministry of the Interior and Kingdom Relations (BZK).
They urge immediate measures to secure the hospital’s liquidity, review healthcare rates, and find structural solutions for the financial losses the hospital has incurred. Without these measures, healthcare in Curaçao is at risk of further deterioration.