Philipsburg:--- Former Gynecologist and founding member of the St. Maarten Medical Center (SMMC) Dr. Michel Petit has issued a strong call on the supervisory board of SMMC to do the honourable thing and dismiss its Managing Director Dr. George Scot.
In a press release Dr. Petit said that based on the recent development and court verdict issued by the Court of First Instance it is clear that the MD Dr. George Scot is not acting in the interest of Health Care and the residents of St. Maarten.
Dr. Petit said that his involvement in Health Care in St. Maarten for over 27 years is known to the Council and the people of St. Maarten. He said based on his own experience and his current opinion about the management of SMMC which is known to the council by now since they also admitted to the Inspectorate that the council is fully aware of the existing problems the inspectorate highlighted in its report.
Dr. Petit said he recently got information that the SMMC Foundation entered into a contractual agreement with an N.V. called AnG Consulting, this agreement is worth in excess of Naf. 350,000.00 per year including bonuses. A contract that has a lifetime of five years. The N.V. AnG Consulting was represented at the signing of this contract by its director who is also the MD of SMMC board of Directors Dr. George Scot. This is extremely unethical and there lies a severe conflict of interest based on the ordinance on health care that stipulates that persons that are part of an institution at managerial level cannot be part of companies doing business with the same institution.
However, the most troubling issue with this contract, is that it was signed by the Chairman of the of the Supervisory Council/board and AnG Consulting N.V. on 17/09/08 without the Supervisory Council doing a background research on the legality of AnG Consulting. It is now clear that this N.V. AnG Consulting is not registered at the Chamber of Commerce and probably does not have a business license and is not paying the Director's Licenses fees which is required by law.
"I cannot believe that the Supervisory Board did not do a background check for registration and license and attach the documents to the existing contract they have with AnG Consulting. While I want to believe that this is just an oversight on their part and they trusted the Director of AnG Consulting N.V. What is sure is that the director of AnG Consulting N.V. knew that his company was not registered at the Chamber of Commerce and the company was not meeting its rightful and legal obligations. I still would leave it up to your council as why this was not done the legal way. I would also leave it up to your council as to how you would categorize and individual or company doing business with a foundation responsible and ensuring that quality health care is provided to its people/clients, while that company is not meeting its legal obligations.
This situation as it is unfolding will not inspire sufficient trust in the institution and the future project and expansion of SMMC and by extension the improvement of health care on St. Maarten is in jeopardy. Serious financial institutions would hesitate to lend 30 million guilders to a foundation whose general director is doing business with the foundation that hired him via his own company that is not registered on St. Maarten and probably does not have a business license.
In no way the situation at SMMC is conducive of improving health care on St. Maarten and certainly is disrespectful to the citizens of St. Maarten who are paying their fair share of taxes. Members of the Supervisory Council/Board of SMMC I urge you for the sake of health care, future expansion of SMMC, the citizens of St. Maarten to take adequate action and dismiss the Managing Director of SMMC board of Directors Dr. George Scot. SMMC director Dr. George Scot is also constantly absent from his job for approximately six months of the year for the past few years. At this stage the Council should re-appoint two directors as allowed by the articles of incorporation of SMMC Foundation.
In doing so the SMMC will regain some credibility within the community and lending institutions. It is clear a "one man" show has its consequences which are not in the interest of SMMC and health care.
