WILLEMSTAD – The Curaçao Medical Center (CMC) remains dominated by emergency financial measures in 2025, while hospital financing is set to become structurally anchored for the first time in the 2026 national budget. This emerges from the First Supplementary Budget for 2025 and the explanatory notes accompanying the 2026 Budget.
In the supplementary budget for 2025, the government acknowledges that the financial position of the CMC is under severe pressure. As an emergency measure, the country has taken over ANG 18 million per year in capital charges from CMC Vastgoed, linked to the Dutch loan used to construct the hospital.
By transferring these costs to the government, the rental burden for the hospital is reduced, creating additional room in its operational budget. At the same time, the government makes clear that this intervention does not immediately resolve the hospital’s liquidity problems.
Growing Concerns
The 2025 budget documents openly express concern about the replacement of medical equipment, lengthy waiting lists, and shortages of medical specialists. The explanatory notes refer to warnings from the hospital itself about the risk of a looming healthcare crisis.
The government points out that healthcare financing is administered through the Social Insurance Bank (SVB) and that the country contributes approximately ANG 300 million annually to the healthcare fund. In addition to assuming the capital charges, additional funding in 2025 is allocated for uninsured patients, hospital operations, staff employment conditions, and supplementary healthcare budgets.
At the same time, the documents show that many financial arrangements in 2025 have not yet been fully finalized. Efficiency studies are scheduled only for 2026, while agreements on funding for replacement investments are expected to be formally concluded toward the end of 2025. As a result, 2025 is characterized primarily as a year in which problems are recognized and temporarily managed.
A Different Picture in 2026
In the 2026 Budget, the government presents a markedly different scenario. The financial strategy for the CMC is incorporated into a multi-year fiscal framework. The annual ANG 18 million in capital charges is structurally absorbed by the country and included in the 2026 budget and subsequent years.
According to the government, funding for the hospital is no longer temporary but firmly embedded in the national budget on a multi-year basis. The explanatory notes confirm that the amounts already reserved for the CMC in 2025 are now definitively carried forward.
This shift, according to the budget documents, moves the CMC from a situation of short-term emergency interventions to one of structural financing. The government also refers once again to the efficiency study planned for 2026 and to agreements with the hospital on cost-saving measures and the funding of reserves for future replacement investments.
Clear Distinction Between the Years
The contrast between the two years is pronounced. In 2025, the Curaçao Medical Center appears in the budget mainly as a symbol of acute financial distress, operational pressure, and temporary solutions.
By 2026, the government presents the hospital as a structurally integrated element of national financial policy, backed by multi-year budgetary commitments.