WILLEMSTAD - The previous cabinet spent more than nine million guilders on the vacant Sint Elisabeth Hospital (SEHOS). The building would be used as a location for corona patients. According to the Ministry of Finance, not a single patient was treated in the SEHOS building during the rental period.
During the Council of Ministers, the ministers received more information about the lease between SEHOS and the government. It would concern different rental periods from May 2020 to May 2021 for a total amount of 9,165,277 guilders. The building was ultimately not used during these periods, according to Minister of Finance Javier Silvania. According to Silvania, the situation is due to the negotiating capacities of the previous Health Minister Suzanne Camelia- Römer.
In a response, the former health minister Suzanne Camelia-Römer calls Silvania the king of slander and libel with his statements. According to Camelia-Römer's party PIN, Silvania's claims show once again that the minister does not attach any value to the law. When entering into the lease, it was decided under the Prime Minister by means of an emergency law to increase the bed capacity in the event of an explosive increase in corona cases.
“In the initial phase of the corona crisis, measures were taken, and it was unclear how Covid-19 would develop. There were not as many deaths then as under the current Pisas cabinet," said PIN. In addition, the Secretary-General of the Minister of Health falls under the Emergency Act under the Prime Minister according to the party.
According to the party, Silvania misinforms the population. “Minister Silvania, be serious and don't play with the health of the population. Covid is a serious matter and not a spectacle," emphasizes PIN.