PHILIPSBURG:--- On May 20th the Court of First Instance ruled in favor of the SMMC in the appeal of the SMMC against the demands the Inspectorate for Public Health had imposed on the hospital on October 12th 2012. On October 12, 2012 the Inspectorate imposed 13 measures upon the SMMC to ensure that good basic quality of care is rendered in SMMC and as such within the only hospital on St. Maarten. These measures were imposed after the Inspectorate established in its latest report from September 7th 2012, following an extensive investigation that the care rendered was sub-optimal/sub-standard.
The Inspectorate is pleased to see that the Court of First Instance upheld its authority and the rights to be able to conduct also governance-related-supervision on health care institutions, where under the SMMC, despite the fact that SMMC has always strongly contested this supervision right by the Inspectorate. The Inspectorate acknowledges the efforts made by SMMC, notwithstanding the suspension of the demands imposed by the Inspectorate by the Court of First Instance in November 2012, to this date to comply with the demands imposed.
Fact of the matter is that several of the demands have meanwhile been fulfilled. Also the communication and relation between SMMC and the Inspectorate has improved measurably, in the past five months. There is however still much to do.
A proficient and efficient working Inspectorate requires continues accessing and determining by medical experts in the service of the Inspectorate, whether or not care providers are abiding to the law and providing the requisite level of medical care. The reported findings by the Inspectorate on the situation that existed in SMMC were the result of almost 9 months of extensive investigation and several conducted inspections. Still, the Court of First Instance regretfully ruled that the findings and 13 demands imposed by the Inspectorate premised on these findings were not sufficiently motivated and/or could not be established. This part of the ruling by the Court of First Instance is both factually and judicially incorrect. It moreover jeopardizes the rights and effective capability of the Inspectorate to be able to in any given situation establish possible shortcomings and more importantly act decisively to remedy same. In essence it makes it impossible and in any case very challenging for the Inspectorate to fulfill its legal obligation to ensure that proper quality of care is rendered.
The quality of care and well-being of the St. Maarten citizens is what is at stake. The Inspectorate as such will submit the contested parts of the ruling to adjudication with the Court of Appeals."