Dear Editor,
On February 4th, 2017, I had to pull myself together in order to bury my father, the late Mr. Carl Houtman. Before traveling, his face was full of excitement as he had plans of getting better. He had faith and trust in God that he would get help in Colombia and be able to come back home to his family and friends better than he left. Shockingly, I got that call on January 22nd letting me know that my father passed away in Colombia after not being there for 24 hours.
How was this even possible?
After being admitted to SMMC on January 9th with intentions to operate on January 10th, 2017, a family member had to travel to St. Maarten which is the normal procedure. Fortunately, the family member was me. Upon calling ZVK to get the proper information and travel details, I was told that the ZVK doctor will have to approve it before I can travel. I had no problems with the procedure, so I then asked if it was possible for them to call and explain the situation, which was that my father had an operation and no one was over there, I was told that it wasn't possible. I took it upon myself to call Bonaire myself and explain the situation. When ZVK approved that I was allowed to accompany him, I then called ZVK again only to hear "you are now being transferred to Bonaire." Was this a spiteful act because I wanted to be there for my father?
Secondly, My hotel was only booked for 2 days, I then called ZVK office for the second time to inform them, I was then transferred to Bonaire again, who transferred the call back to the other colleague in St. Eustatius.
I arrived on St. Maarten on January 11th, 2017, no funding was transferred on my account until after calling the office on various occasions. I received a partial amount of funding on January 19th, 2017.
On January 21st my father was set to be flown to Colombia. With all the complaints, illnesses and two sick feet, ZVK found that he was good enough to fly commercial on a 5-hour flight with one stop in Panama. No proper arrangements were made as my father was registered to sit in Seat 26A, with two sick feet.
Upon his arrival in Colombia, NO arrangements were made as he arrived 5:45PM and had to wait until 7:30PM before a taxi could be sent for him. He was then transported to a hotel instead of the hospital. When questioned, we got to find out that no arrangements were made from ZVK and he was sent as a regular patient traveling to see a doctor on Monday morning.
Is this the treatment we get when we speak up? Are the workers really offering good service or are they too busy being personal? What exactly is the task of the ZVK doctor when referring patients to other islands for medical purposes?
My father lost his life in the hands of spiteful, negligent and unprofessional workers. Are we going to wait until someone else loses their life before we investigate what exactly goes on at this office?
Khanya Houtman
