PHILIPSBURG:--- VSA Minister Claret Connor says staffing for the new general hospital has been discussed with the management of St. Maarten Medical Center, but he did not present a detailed workforce plan when questioned about preparations for the larger facility.

At Wednesday’s Council of Ministers press briefing, Connor was asked whether the government is aligning training, overseas study, and recruitment with the hospital’s anticipated demand for nurses, doctors, medical technicians, information technology personnel, and administrative staff.

Connor said he met with SMMC management approximately two weeks earlier and identified nursing development as an area receiving sustained attention.

He referred to training through NIPA and SMMC for licensed practical nurses and registered nurses, describing the nursing programme as relatively advanced.

For specialist services, Connor said the hospital receives support from institutions in the Netherlands through arrangements that allow specialists to rotate into Sint Maarten for limited periods.

However, he could not identify which other staffing categories currently have priority.

“As far as staffing is concerned, I know that they have focused on that,” Connor said. “But in terms of the specific areas, I’m not sure exactly which area has priority.”

The minister said the hospital’s current focus is completing construction.

Pressed on his responsibility as Minister of Labor to help prepare a local workforce for the anticipated demand, Connor agreed that residents should have opportunities to train, return home, and take on more permanent positions.

He also said requests for specialist approvals have been reaching the ministry.

He indicated that further discussion with the hospital would be necessary to help ensure enough suitably qualified people return to fill positions in the years ahead.

The briefing did not establish how many additional employees the new facility will require, which vacancies could be filled locally or what recruitment and training deadlines are being used.

It also did not identify a coordinated programme linking projected hospital vacancies to students currently studying abroad.

Connor’s responses confirmed that nursing training and specialist recruitment arrangements exist. They left open how those efforts fit into a comprehensive staffing plan for the new hospital, including the technical and administrative services needed to operate it.

PHILIPSBURG:--- VROMI is moving toward a standing arrangement for car-wreck removal, with Minister Patrice Gumbs Jr. saying the scale of the problem requires a more organized response.

The bid deadline is Friday, October 23, 2026.

At Wednesday’s Council of Ministers press briefing, Gumbs said the tender does not mark the beginning of wreck removal. He said vehicles have already been collected, but the volume and associated expenditure now require a formal procurement process.

The intention is to have a contractor available whenever the ministry identifies a wreck requiring removal.

That would reduce reliance on individual collection arrangements, separate invoices and repeated administrative processing.

“The intervention is going to be far bigger than what we can do on an operational day-to-day basis,” Gumbs said.

Residents can assist by submitting photographs and locations through the ministry’s existing reporting channels, including its QR-code system and Inspection Department.

Gumbs said the ministry would also share contact information for the operational teams responsible for tagging vehicles during the week.

He urged residents to file formal reports so complaints can be recorded and followed up on.

He cautioned that informally passing a message through someone with a personal connection to the ministry does not necessarily put the complaint before the responsible department.

Gumbs also reminded prospective bidders that the deadline for cemetery works is Monday, October 26.

Because the government website is experiencing difficulties, he said tender information is available on the ministry’s and government’s Facebook pages, as well as his ministerial and personal pages.

PHILIPSBURG:--- Minister of Public Health, Social Development and Labor Claret Connor has acknowledged errors and inconsistencies in ministerial decrees published in the National Gazette on October 9, 2026, saying further verification is needed to establish where the discrepancies occurred and what corrective action is required.

Addressing the Council of Ministers press briefing on Wednesday, October 21, Connor said the problems include missing dates and reference numbers, incomplete information, and technical references appearing in the published documents.

“The ministry recognizes the importance of ensuring that official government decisions are accurately documented and published, and takes these concerns extremely seriously,” Connor said.

However, the minister did not identify the affected decrees, explain the consequences for the persons or institutions involved, or set a deadline for completing the review.

Connor said preparing, approving, administratively handling, and publishing ministerial decrees involve several stages across different ministries and departments.

Some of those processes remain manual, which he said can increase the possibility of administrative and technical errors.

That explanation did not establish where the problems originated. Connor said further checks would be necessary before the department could determine responsibility for the discrepancies and the appropriate response.

The minister explained that the Department of Public Health began an exercise in 2025 to ensure that decrees within its responsibility were published as required. The October 2026 publication formed part of that effort to improve administrative compliance and transparency.

“The ministry will coordinate with the relevant departments to review the discrepancies and determine what corrections, if any, are necessary,” he said.

The ministry will seek legal advice where clarification is required.

Connor also pointed to efforts to develop a digital permit-processing system and strengthen document verification, describing these as part of broader administrative improvements.

The immediate questions remain which documents require correction, when accurate versions will be published, and whether the errors affect the implementation of any decisions. The briefing did not resolve those questions.

PHILIPSBURG:--- VSA Minister Claret Connor has expressed willingness to examine a possible tax on alcohol, tobacco and sugary drinks, but stopped short of announcing a government proposal or committing potential revenue to healthcare.

The issue was raised during Wednesday’s Council of Ministers press briefing, when Connor was asked whether such a tax could help finance the health sector.

Connor said taxation falls primarily under the Ministry of Finance and the tax authorities.

He acknowledged that he had not attended the parliamentary sitting referenced in the question and was unfamiliar with the specific discussion that took place.

However, he said he could review the matter and determine whether it requires the involvement of VSA, TEATT and Finance.

“The topic of sin tax, I know, has been a topic that has been discussed on St. Martin for many, many years,” Connor said.

He added that the measure had been raised as an alternative to other economic measures and said he could speak with parliamentarians about their priorities.

He indicated those discussions could compare a sin tax with other options for increasing public revenue.

No proposed tax rate, implementation date, revenue estimate or mechanism for allocating proceeds was presented.

Connor also did not announce that government had agreed to pursue the measure.

His response leaves the issue at the discussion stage, with its purpose still undefined: whether it would primarily raise general revenue, support healthcare expenditure, influence consumption, or combine those objectives.

For now, the minister’s position is that the proposal warrants examination through discussions involving Parliament and the ministries concerned.