WILLEMSTAD - A COVID patient in the Curaçao Medical Center (CMC) costs almost twice as much as a patient without COVID-19. For example, 1,103 guilders per day are spent on extra supplies.
The costs for extra care supplies, precautions, and nursing staff are increasing. For regular patients in the CMC, the costs are around 1,500 guilders per day. Daily care for a patient with COVID-19 comes out to over 3,800 guilders.
The costs are even higher in the Intensive Care. The normal rate on the IC is 3,267 guilders. For COVID patients, about 2,680 guilders a day will be added, making a patient in the intensive care almost 6,000 guilders per day.
Since the start of the pandemic in 2020, the CMC has spent nearly 31.8 million guilders to care for patients with COVID-19.
At the end of September, the hospital sounded the alarm. The CMC has stopped all non-necessary medical treatments for SVB (Social Insurance Bank) patients since October. The money that the SVB has made available for 2021 does not cover all the costs of the hospital.
Minister of Health, Environment, and Nature (GMN) Dorothy Pietersz-Janga has commissioned the SVB on Wednesday to give the CMC an advance. This advance is intended to guarantee elective care.