WILLEMSTAD - A payment dispute between the Analytical Diagnostic Center (ADC) and the Curaçao Medical Center (CMC) has resulted in Minister of Finance, Javier Silvania, granting an advance of 800,000 guilders to the national laboratory last Friday.
Minister Silvania stated that this amount should be viewed as a temporary solution to address ADC's liquidity issues.
Since last year, tensions have been rising between ADC and CMC due to instances of double billing by ADC to CMC. The situation has escalated to the point where CMC sent a letter to ADC expressing their unwillingness to continue their collaboration.
The issue revolves around the billing practices of the ADC lab towards the hospital. The ADC's billing to CMC amounts to tens of millions of guilders.
During the Covid-19 pandemic, CMC discovered discrepancies in the ADC's invoices. For instance, CMC found that laboratory costs for a single patient in intensive care amounted to 148,000 guilders. Recognizing this anomaly, CMC launched an investigation, which revealed various incorrect invoices.
Ultimately, ADC credited CMC with almost ten million guilders. However, the 2022 payment is still pending. Due to CMC's discovery in November 2020, it took until 2021 to receive the initial invoice. Despite the advance provided, the situation between CMC and ADC remains unresolved.