Investments in education and health care BES-islands

September 23, 2010 11:21 AM

In the 2011 budget published on Budget Day (Prinsjesdag) on Tuesday it is stated that 20 million euros will be spent for education on the BES islands and from 22.1 million euros in 2011 to 37.6 million euros in 2013 will be invested in health care.

Over 20 million euros for education on BES islands

Dutch Ministry of Education, Culture and Science OCW will spend more than 20 million euros per year on education in Bonaire, St. Eustatius and Saba.

This is stated in the 2011 budget that the Ministry published on Budget Day (Prinsjesdag) on Tuesday. The Ministry will invest 23 million euros in 2011 and 2012. The amount will gradually go down to a more structural amount of 20 million euros in 2015.

The reason for making more money available in the first two years mainly has to do with investments to upgrade the quality of education on the three islands to a level that is more acceptable to the Netherlands. According to the Dutch Education Inspection, the quality of education on the islands was below Dutch standards.

The Hague already spent 3 million euros on education last year, while 8.5 million euros had been budgeted for this year. The Ministry has reserved an annual amount of 3.5 million euros in 2011 and 2012 for the improvement plans. This post will be gradually reduced to 0.8 million euros in 2015. By this time, the backlog in the educational level should have been eliminated.

In the 20 million-euro budget, some 2 million euros has been reserved for study loans for students of Bonaire, St. Eustatius and Saba. Cooperation with Curaçao and St. Maarten in the area of education will remain. For this an annual amount of 850,000 euros has been reserved.

Large investments into health care BES islands

Expenditures of the Dutch Government for health care on Bonaire, St. Eustatius and Saba will increase in the next few years, from 22.1 million euros in 2011 to 37.6 million euros in 2013.

Caretaker Minister of Public Health, Wellbeing and Sports Ab Klink announced the health care figures for the islands in the 2011 budget of the Ministry of VWS, which was presented in The Hague on Tuesday, during Budget Day (Prinsjesdag).

Health care in Bonaire, St. Eustatius and Saba will be improved gradually in the first years after the islands become part of the Dutch Constellation as so-called "public entities." As a result, the cost will also increase. The Dutch Government has the ambition to raise the health care level to a level that is more or less the same as in the Netherlands, taking into consideration the small scale of the islands.

In 2011, 22.1 million euros has been reserved for health care cost for residents of Bonaire, St. Eustatius and Saba. In 2012 this amount will go up to 27.5 million euros, in 2013 to 30.3 million euros and to 34 million euros in 2014. For 2015, the cost has been set at 37.6 million euros.

According to Klink, the three islands have a relatively high percentage of chronically ill patients. "At this moment, there are numerous public and private health care cost insurances which are being confronted with structural financial shortages," he stated in an accompanying statement to the budget.

Klink explained that as a result the access to care is limited. "The situation is made worse by the limited health care possibilities, both in quality and quantity, partly because of small scale," stated the Minister.

The Minister stated that residents very much depended on Curaçao and St. Maarten to arrange a medical evacuation. He sees it as his responsibility to make health care more affordable, accessible, efficiently and of a higher quality.

New ambulances are operational on all three islands and personnel are being trained. The expansion of a number of basic specialties at Bonaire's hospital takes time, stated Klink. The VU University Hospital of Amsterdam and the Amsterdam Medical Centre are involved. It concerns specialism in internal medicine, surgery, anesthesia, gynecology, pediatrics and psychiatrics which should become available in the course of 2011.

The kidney dialysis facilities at Bonaire's hospital are being worked on. Improving the medical infrastructure, namely buildings and equipment, is part of the quality trajectory which will start in 2011.

Agreements with a large hospital in the vicinity of Bonaire and another hospital near St. Eustatius and Saba will be made shortly for super-specialist care. Acute care will also be supplied by the two larger regional hospitals, of which the names were not mentioned.

An agreement on medical evacuations will also be made. The choice whether to use a regular aircraft or a helicopter depends on the large regional hospital that will service the islands will cooperate.

The Hague is looking at several hospitals in order to determine which will be the most suitable for the islands. The issue of medical evacuation will be immediately arranged thereafter and should be operational shortly after October 10, 2010.

Residents of Bonaire, St. Eustatius and Saba will be insured via the new health care insurance which will be arranged through a general measure of government in the Implementation Law BES.

The health care insurance will resort under the responsibility of the Ministry of VWS which in turn will mandate the Health Care Bureau BES to execute the insurance. This Bureau plays an important role in the preparations leading up to the implementation of the insurance which will become effective per January 1, 2011.

22 September 2010