The Executive and Island Councils discuss Medical Referrals and Goat Situation in the first technical meeting

On Wednesday, April 10th, the Executive Council and the Island Council met in their first technical meeting since the inauguration of the new Councils. These meetings provide the opportunity to improve communication between both Councils and are additional to the regular Central Committee and Island Council meetings. Among the topics discussed were the medical referrals of patients and the goat situation the on Island.

There are a lot of complaints about medical referrals recently, and because of this both Councils created a comprehensive overview of all the complaints and discussed how to approach the responsible organizations in regards to several changes that took place during the last months.

In moving forward, the next actions will be;

• Representatives of the Island Council and the Executive Council will go to Bonaire and discuss this with decision makers of the ZVK head office.
• A visit by representatives of the Executive Council to the different Ministries in the Netherlands at the end of April, with emphasis on the Ministry of VWS who ultimately is responsible for health care on Saba.
• Also discussed was a plan of approach for a meeting that was held on March 11th, where both the Executive and Island Council met with three representatives of ZVK on Saba who happened to be on the island.

With this approach on different levels, both Councils is working towards improving the situation of medical referrals as soon as possible.

The goats are of a tremendous nuisance to the community, and at times they create dangerous situations, i.e., with falling rocks as well as hazards to traffic. The Executive Council presented a draft plan, and the Island Council also expressed their ideas. The plan aims to decrease the goat population. It will be a multi-faceted approach where the goat owners again are asked to maintain their herds better; hunters will shoot more goats and traps will be placed in the built-up areas, to eliminate shooting in the villages. This plan of action went into effect this week.

Other points discussed were upgrading the courtroom so that the public can view and listen to Central Committee and Island Council meetings better, the update of the Public Entity’s website and hygiene training for persons with vendor permits.

GIS Saba.