Willemstad, August 5th, 2021 – Due to the recent increase in the number of COVID-19 patients with a chance of another potential outbreak in our community, the board of directors Curaçao Medical Center (CMC), in consultation with the internal Outbreak Management Team (OMT), has made the decision to start the escalation process. This is to ensure there is enough resources to care for hospitalized patients.
This process entails a reduction of 25% of elective care this week, with a chance of a further decrease to 50% next week. These elective care treatments entail elective operations that are not essential or acute and require longer-term (longer than 3 days) hospital stay. CMC’s planning department will contact all canceled patients by telephone. Patients that do not receive a call from the planning department can safely assume that their surgery will continue as planned. CMC will do its maximum to continue as many treatments as possible that do not require overnight stay. Acute and Essential care will also continue as planned. All clinical appointments (Poli) will also continue.
The commitment from the Netherlands to fund the US team of specialists and nurses ends this month. CMC is very grateful for the support of more than one year that the Netherlands has given.
To bridge this gap, Board of Directors of CMC is in conversation with the Ministry of Health on making it possible to retain the remaining AMI members and recruit additional specialist to assist in the escalation efforts.
All remaining hospital guidelines and regulations remain in place. Everyone who enters the hospital must wear a facemask, maintain social distance where possible and apply hand hygiene. Patients can receive visitors between 11am and 1pm and between 5pm and 7pm. If you experience any symptoms, you cannot visit the hospital. Should you experience symptoms and are in need of hospital care, please contact your General Practitioner who will assist in the process.
