WILLEMSTAD – Curaçao Medical Center (CMC) has reduced its waiting list for surgeries by more than 30 percent in recent weeks, but a continuing increase in emergency patients is putting significant pressure on hospital beds, operating rooms and nursing capacity.
According to CMC, the surgical waiting list declined from approximately 1,070 patients in September to 733 this week. The improvement comes as the hospital works to make more efficient use of its operating rooms and available capacity.
At the same time, however, demand at the Emergency Department continues to rise.
During the first nine months of 2026, CMC treated 18,236 patients in the Emergency Department, nearly 10 percent more than during the same period in 2025 and almost 15 percent more than in 2024.
Of those patients, 5,096 had to be admitted to the hospital. This means that, on average, approximately 19 patients arrive through the Emergency Department every day and unexpectedly require a hospital bed.
CMC explained that emergency admissions cannot be planned. When an emergency patient requires immediate surgery or hospitalization, that patient's care must take priority. However, emergency and scheduled patients depend on the same operating rooms, hospital beds and healthcare professionals.
As a result, scheduled surgeries sometimes have to be postponed at the last minute when capacity is urgently needed for an emergency case.
The situation becomes particularly difficult when more than 85 percent of beds in general nursing departments are occupied. Patients may then have to wait longer for a bed or temporarily be admitted to a department that is not the most appropriate for their medical condition.
High occupancy can also delay the transfer of patients from the Emergency Department and increase the likelihood that planned operations will have to be postponed.
CMC said it has introduced several measures to improve patient flow and make beds available more quickly.
One area of improvement involves patients who are medically ready to leave the hospital but cannot yet be discharged because they are waiting for a place in a nursing home, hospice or another care facility.
The number of these patients has fallen from approximately 29 in the middle of this year to 10 this week. CMC described this as significant progress achieved with assistance from the Social Insurance Bank (SVB) and other healthcare partners.
Nevertheless, the hospital stressed that when CMC is operating close to maximum capacity, every bed that becomes available for a patient requiring specialized hospital care makes a difference.
CMC said it will continue working to reduce the surgery waiting list, improve operating room efficiency, accelerate discharge procedures, strengthen capacity planning and make the best possible use of its available beds and staff.