Dutch Caribbean Hospital Alliance founded
The hospitals of the Dutch Caribbean – comprised of Aruba, Curaçao, Sint Maarten and a number of special municipalities - have established a cooperative under the name Dutch Caribbean Hospital Alliance (DHCA)
The experience with Covid-19 was the direct reason for the establishment of the partnership. DCHA aims to strengthen the quality of hospital care on these islands. DCHA wants to be able to guarantee and improve medical specialist care in the future and to coordinate and optimise the quality and availability of medical specialist care.
It is hoped that the intensification of cooperation between the hospitals will improve and strengthen the quality and continuity of care for the inhabitants on the islands in the Caribbean part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands.
Giovanni Frans, Director of Fundashon Mariadal and the current Chairman, commented: “After almost two years of preparation and intensive consultation … DCHA is finally a fact. We are proud of this step and hope that this will be one of many for optimal healthcare on our islands.”
Improving the quality of care on the islands
Ingemar Merkies, Medical Director of CMC, added: “I expect that we will work together with DCHA on education and training with the aim of bringing back our human capital abroad. This will further improve the quality of care on our islands.”
Recently the DCHA has already trained 100 nurses from Aruba, Curaçao, Bonaire, St. Maarten and St. Eustatius for Basic Acute Care in the Caribbean Health Academy training programme. Thanks to this training programme and other joint activities of DCHA, the islands are more flexible and can therefore respond adequately to acute care situations, such as during a pandemic.