WILLEMSTAD - The Curaçao Medical Center (CMC) is happy and relieved with the 19.6 million guilder liquidity support promised by the government. This is according to Director of Operations Karina Lombardi,
Lombardi says that as a result, the hospital can continue to provide the necessary care in the coming period, which would otherwise have been jeopardized. She stresses that this doesn't cover the load. “On an annual basis we run 50 to 60 million guilders losses.” According to Lombardi, structural solutions are crucial for the ailing hospital.
According to the Director of Operations, a reorganization of the care landscape - with an emphasis on prevention - can ultimately make the biggest difference. CMC cumulative is currently 212 million guilders in the red. The 19.6 million guilders that have been awarded is, according to Lombardi, "a good start", but does not bring that amount down sufficiently. Moreover, it does not offer a solution for the fact that the debts continue to rise at an enormous pace.
“The 19.6 million is the reimbursement of the costs incurred by the hospital since the opening in 2019 up to and including 2022 for the treatment of uninsured. We see more and more of that. In 2020 there were 3,495 patients, in 2022 there were 4,502. Partly due to the situation in Venezuela and the increase in refugees.”
Another cause of the increasing losses is the fact that the total demand for care increases by 10 percent annually. This applies to both uninsured and insured patients. To stop that, Lombardi calls "a reinforcement of primary care and the implementation of health centers with the emphasis on prevention" essential. “A healthier society with healthier people, that's what it's all about. We must get that together.”
At the same time, more money is needed, and the CMC management will continue to insist on that in the planned interviews with the Ministry of Public Health. According to Lombardi, the non-right care budgets and rising laboratory costs must also be resolved as quickly as possible. In addition, the CMC management wants, among other things, the transition costs incurred from the old to the new hospital (39.1 million) and Covid costs (12.1 million) to be covered by the country.
“We understand that there is no money for everything, but then we must work together to prevent the losses from increasing. In the Netherlands, for example, patients are given the choice to make to another hospital for elective care if the care budgets are used up. We don't have another hospital in Curaçao. So what will we do then? What choices do we make and how can we use the resources we have as well as possible?”
Even being able to offer emergency and essential help was endangered to the CMC, but that is now due to the phased support of 19.6 million at least temporarily passing. According to Lombardi, meeting the conditions that the government has set is no problem. “We have heard these conditions via Facebook and the media and think that we will find each other in good consultation. We are still waiting for an official announcement about this, but as far as we know now, we already meet several important requirements. Such as always paying the salaries and our tax obligations such as the payment of social contributions.”
The money that is now becoming available will be used, among other things, for (continuing to) pay for healthcare suppliers. “For example, think of medicines and dialysis resources. They are essential. If we cannot pay it and therefore, they are no longer delivered, people with kidney failure cannot get dialysis. This causes them to die within a few days. The bills for such resources must simply be paid and that is now fortunately possible.”