PHILIPSBURG--Government is looking to streamline the medical referral process with the aim of making it more efficient.
Currently Social and Health Insurances SZV manages the medical referral process where persons are sent abroad for medical treatment and care not available locally.
Health Minister Emil Lee told reporters at the Council of Ministers press briefing on Wednesday, that talks are being held amongst St. Maarten Medical Center (SMMC), the Ministry of Public Health Social Development and Labour VSA and SZV to determine how to effectively streamline the referral process to make it more efficient, “and perhaps even doing it more directly under the SMMC structure under some sort of board to make the process more transparent and a little more efficient.”
Authorities are also looking at the use of telemedicine and rotating physicians to reduce the number of referrals abroad and are trying to bring this “knowledge home.”
