Monday morning’s press conference starring MinPres contained lots of gems, I don’t want you to miss any and they are related to Tuesday’s news.
Apparently eight associations of caregivers have written a very strong letter addressed to GOA & Parliament regarding the dire financial situation of health-care on the island.
The letter was signed by: Asociacion di Dokter di Cas (HAVA), Asociacion di Specialista di Hospital (ASHA), Aruba Dental Association (ADA), Vereniging van Medische Specialisten op Aruba (VMSA) Arubaanse Vereniging van Fysiotherapeuten (AVF), Botica Vereniging Aruba (BVA), Vereniging van Verloskundigen Aruba (VVA) and KP Visser Orthopedic Technical Center.
Remember? The AZV budget needed to be cut, by an unrealistic number, but what can we do, the decree has been issued.
Instead of starting to make much-needed structural changes in the way health care is delivered, which would have yielded some good changes over time, GOA decided to simply withhold payments, from general practitioners, pharmacies, specialists and physiotherapist, who service AZV clients. Many invoices presented by caregivers for June, July, August remained unpaid, and some were paid at 75%, consequently all these employers including the hospital, ImSAN and the pharmacies, were unable to meets their own obligations.
In their letter, the eight associations remarked that they have already sent a number of communications previously, and while all remained unanswered, they think they deserve to be treated with more respect, in view of the important role they play in our community. They urged GOA to sign the Dutch-aid agreement, ASAP, before health care cuts deliver catastrophic results.
They also questioned GOA’s priorities: Every single one of GOA’s employees got paid, on time, their privileged AZV PLUS health plan remained untouched, while the rest of country got bubkes – diddly-squat.
The pharmacies who are owed a ton of retroactive money even gave an ultimatum, no tiki no washi. If GOA doesn’t cough up the July payment, by 4pm Friday, all AZV clients will be personally charged for payment of their medications. Credit just died.
This financial bululu ties in nicely with the Monday conference, where the MinPres chattily reported that when she left to the Netherlands on July 10th to meet with the Dutch government she was under the impression that our resources will run dry two weeks later. Upon her return she was gratified to hear from the Ministry of Finance that her bookkeepers unearthed more reserves, they cut expenses, they said, they cleverly delayed payments, and also secured some funds from the awakening tourist sector.
So now we know where the Wizards of the Treasury found the extra cash, they didn’t pay healthcare professionals and services. But they paid for GOA’s apparat, all employees and expenses.
