WILLEMSTAD/ PHILIPSBURG:--- The medical director of SEHOS (St Elizabeth Hospital ) Dr. Franke Scheper worked closely with the Inspector of Health in Curacao Dr. Gersji Pererira to find a workable solution and one that he could manage in the interest of Healthcare.
Dr. Michel Berry was suspended by the institution in the month of January for not seeing and treating a patient that was admitted to SEHOS. The moment Dr. Berry was suspended both by SEHOS and the Inspector of Health the director of SEHOS called in two different auditors from the Netherlands to conduct an independent audit on the quality of surgery care and on patient safety.
Shortly after that SEHOS discovered that one of their surgeons, Dr. Fa Si Oen who has been working at SEHOS for over 12 years was not registered in Belgium. Upon getting that information the medical director of SEHOS met with Dr. Fa Si Oen and they sent him on mandatory leave to regulate his registration. In both cases the Inspector of Health was involved while both surgeons headed to court.
Even though court cases were ongoing the medical director of SEHOS Dr. Franke Scheper and the Inspector of Health Dr. Gersji Pererira decided to work hand in hand and found a solution that will benefit their patients and the institution while SEHOS will have a full grip on how their specialists work.
The decision taken was to allow both surgeons to return to work in full time service at SEHOS, meaning SEHOS will have full control over what their specialists do to guarantee quality and safety of care. So far Dr. Michel Berry has returned working full time for the institution while Dr. Fa Si Oen did not take a decision as yet as to whether or not he will return to work for SEHOS under the conditions set forth.
SEHOS also received assistance from its functioning surgery group who also laid down rules and made sure that management of SEHOS know what type of working environment they are willing to work in.
All of the decisions taken by SEHOS, the Inspector of Health and the Surgery Group of SEHOS is to guarantee patients safety and proper quality of healthcare. While all of the above was taking place the Minister of Health in Curacao took a backseat and allowed the organs that are in place to conduct their jobs without interference.
When compared to St. Maarten Medical Center (SMMC) the local institution does not have a medical director in place even though it was one of the recommendations given to SMMC after the 2012 audit was completed by the Inspectorate of Health on St. Maarten.
The medical staff of SMMC is confronting many issues, but they are more scared to properly address these issues and patient safety due to intimidation and fear by the management of SMMC.
SMMC over the years has been hiring under-qualified specialists and doctors to work on St. Maarten while not conducting proper background checks on those they choose to hire.
Another big failure on St. Maarten is the Department of Health who does not have the policies and qualified staff to conduct the vetting procedures while the advice given by the Ministry of Education is not adhered to. Besides all of those factors, the Minister of Health Emil Lee finds himself in the middle, meddling in the affairs of the Inspectorate that he even issued a gag order to the Inspectorate which almost landed him in court. Instead of the Minister of Health does what is necessary to ensure that quality of care and patient safety are guaranteed on St. Maarten he is hell bent on taking sides with SMMC rather than being impartial, simply because he has special arrangements to continue his dream project the New General Hospital.
Minister Emil Lee chose to hire a consultant to conduct what he calls a baseline study in the healthcare chain on St. Maarten but focusses on the SMMC and the scheduled audit by the Inspectorate. All of which is being paid for by the Ministry VSA. What the Minister did not tell the people of St. Maarten is that this consultant Mr. Everard van Kemenade is a consultant at the White and Yellow Cross and he is also the candidate that SMMC intends to hire to assist in getting the JCI accreditation SMMC wants. More disturbing is this person has absolutely no experience in healthcare.
The question remains whether Mr. van Kemenade is able to produce a non-biased report on the SMMC since he is expecting a job at the institution.
