CARIBISCH NEDERLAND – A C-17 transport plane left this morning to Sint Maarten from the Eindhoven Air Base. The aircraft holds medical equipment, protective equipment, and medicines to treat corona patients. In part, the shipment includes a mobile hospital, a so-called ‘Hospitainer’, in which 6 independent Intensive Care spaces will be set up. In addition, there will also be enough equipment so that 6 extra IC places can be realized within the hospital in Sint Maarten.
The additional IC places are part of capacity expansion, intended for patients for all islands within the Caribbean part of the Kingdom. They are being supplied as first to Sint Maarten, because strengthening the medical capacity for the Windward Islands is currently most needed according to the RIVM.
We are working together
State Secretary Paul Blokhuis (VWS): “This shipment to Sint Maarten is a concrete step in increasing the capacity of medical care for all islands. There is continuous consultation with all those involved here in the European Netherlands and the Caribbean part of the Kingdom. Together we are working hard to limit the spread of corona as much as possible and at the same time aiming to facilitate the best
possible care of corona patients.”
Additional medical personnel
Additional medical personnel are also required to strengthen medical capacity. Agreements are made about this with an international company that dispatches medical personnel. The first team of physicians and nurses is expected to arrive in Sint Maarten in the coming week.
