WILLEMSTAD – PAR Member of Parliament Shaheen Elhage is demanding answers from Health Minister Tyron Boekhoudt about the performance of Curaçao’s Health Inspectorate, questioning whether the watchdog has sufficient capacity, independence and expertise to respond effectively to serious complaints in the healthcare sector.
Elhage submitted a series of parliamentary questions on September 17 concerning the quality and continuity of healthcare and supervision of mental health services. The questions were prompted by the case of a citizen with a serious psychiatric condition that became public on September 14 and raised concerns about possible fragmentation of care.
Rather than focusing on the individual patient’s medical circumstances, Elhage is asking the government to examine whether the institutions responsible for healthcare supervision and coordination are functioning as they should.
One of his main concerns involves the Health Inspectorate.
According to the PAR parliamentarian, the Inspectorate has been noticeably less visible during the past four years when serious complaints and warnings about risks in healthcare have emerged.
Elhage points to indications that, in one patient case, the Inspectorate allegedly did not act on a serious complaint until the Ombudsman intervened. He also raises questions about what the Inspectorate did with a report from the General Audit Chamber concerning ambulance care.
He is now asking Boekhoudt to provide detailed figures for each year between 2022 and 2026 showing how many complaints the Health Inspectorate received involving mental healthcare, emergency care and ambulance services.
The MP also wants to know how many of those complaints resulted in investigations and what measures were subsequently taken.
Elhage is separately asking the minister to confirm whether the Inspectorate acted in a specific patient case only after intervention by the Ombudsman. If that is correct, he wants an explanation for the delay and information about lessons learned from the case.
Questions are also being raised about the General Audit Chamber's findings on ambulance care. Elhage wants the government to provide Curaçao Parliament with relevant correspondence, conclusions and any corrective measures taken following that report.
The broader issue, according to the questions, is whether Curaçao’s healthcare regulator is properly equipped to perform its supervisory responsibilities.
Elhage wants Boekhoudt to explain how the government determines whether the Inspectorate has sufficient independence, expertise and personnel to respond promptly and effectively when serious problems are reported.
The questions come at a time when healthcare quality and government supervision are receiving increasing political attention. Elhage argues that effective oversight cannot depend solely on whether individual cases eventually attract public attention.
The parliamentarian has requested concrete and complete answers from the minister within the period prescribed by Curaçao Parliament’s Rules of Procedure.