(de Ware Tijd) – “If the Health Minister says we cannot raise our tariffs and he does not come up with money, our services and care will grind to a halt by the end of this month. We will not be able to pay salaries, and as a rule, people who are not paid refuse to work.” This is the reaction of Manodj Hindorie, chairman of the National Council of Hospitals (NZR), to the statement by Health Minister Celsius Waterberg that the hospitals do not have permission to charge an extra fee to those who have a voluntary private insurance at the State Health Insurance Fund (SZF). Last week, the NZR decided that as of February 15, that category of SZF-patients will no longer be treated on the basis of tariffs that have been in force since 2006. There is an agreement dating from 2009 which includes higher tariffs, but it has never been implemented, so the hospitals unilaterally want to introduce the 2009 tariffs now. During a radio program yesterday, Minister Waterberg said he would write the public hospitals, namely the Academic Hospital, Lands Hospital and the regional Hospital Nickerie today that they should reconsider the measure. There was no communication with the government about this matter. The Minister also admitted during the program that it is the government’s fault that the new tariffs have not been implemented yet, and that something structural should be done about them.
