Although Minister of Public Health, Social Development and Labour VSA Richinel Brug was sent home for lack of confidence by a majority of Parliament, the saga between him and URSM party colleague Prime Minister Luc Mercelina that led to his dismissal may not be over. After all, another motion was adopted (see related story) requesting an urgent investigation into a medical professional being allowed authorisation to practise in St. Maarten.
Mention is made of alleged attempts by the prime minister to sign off on or facilitate the authorisation of a General Practitioner (GP) without the legally required documentation. This, despite negative advice from the Council of Public Health, consisting of qualified medical professionals, together with the Health Inspectorate.
The motion specifically referenced a statement attributed to the prime minister regarding his decision to overturn the negative advice, stating: "I knew the individual". That it received unanimous support indicates the matter is considered serious.
Mercelina, a doctor by profession, clarified that physicians can legally work in St. Maarten without holding a formal family medicine specialisation. According to him, only four of the currently active 19 PGs in the country possessed such.
The latter was in turn denied by the VSA ministry, saying nine of 20 met that condition while eight had been established before Family Medicine was formally recognised as specialisation and three cases made use of an old policy permitting exemptions based on years of experience. Brug also told legislators that the person involved does not have qualifications to operate as a GP in any country.
Mercelina claimed going against the advice because of a serious, growing shortage of GPs, with several having retired or stopped practising. He publicly took full responsibility for doing this as acting VSA minister.
To what extent those might prove to be prophetic words in the near future remains to be seen.
