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Concerned that the Agreement with St. Maarten Is Coming to An End

PHILIPSBURG–National Alliance (NA) Member of Parliament (MP) Angelique Romou is concerned that the agreement between St. Maarten and the Panama Medical Clinic is coming to an end.

During her recent trip to attend the General Assembly of the Latin American Parliament (Parlatino) in Panama from February 9-12, Romou said she was treated to a tour of the Panama Clinic where many residents were sent for treatment since the pandemic, as Panama was the only country that opened its doors for patients at the time.

She said the partnership that was forged between the Panama Clinic and St. Maarten, in particular Social and Health Insurances SZV, should be continued because of the services that are provided at the Panama Clinic.

Romou said she spoke to some persons, who had been receiving care from the clinic and the feedback was very positive. The MP shared her concerns about the working relationship coming to an end in a recent meeting with SZV Director Glen Carty. She said the type of services that the healthcare institution provides is what St. Maarten currently does not provide hence the dire need to continue the partnership.

The discussion was very fruitful in the sense that various scenarios outside of SZV were also discussed as possible ways to continue this partnership, she said in a press release.
Romou said the Panama Clinic is located in a complex that has hotel accommodation on the premises, designed for patients, with all amenities such as a mini apartment with kitchen. There is also a supermarket and food courts, as well as two drugstores in the immediate vicinity.

The staff is bilingual and there is a team solely responsible for making sure the patients needs are met. The Panama Clinic has the International Accreditation from Temos International: Excellence in Medical Tourism, according to Romou.
She said services include trauma: orthopaedics, neurosurgery, oncology, urology, newborn intensive care unit (ICU), cardiovascular surgery for children and adults, thoracic surgery, imaging, rehabilitation and ophthalmology.

The clinics technology and equipment is also state of the art. The clinic has invested in Robotics: They have two robots, Da Vinci and Artemis. This equipment is the latest for urology, cardiology and even neurosurgery procedures. With these they can really capture the correct zones where to locate the prostate cancer, Romou said.

They also have hybrid equipment specially for surgery procedures and Interventionist Radiology. There are three Teslas MRIs [Magnetic Resonance Imaging Ed.]: their configuration is for MRI including Functional MRI. There are no machines like this in Latin America, Digital PET-CT [Positron Emission Tomography Computed Tomography], which has two advantages compared with the older one (e.g. the CT has 128 cuts and reduces the irradiation doses for the patient and the PET detects solid at low doses), SPECT CT which is used for Nuclear Medicine and cardiovascular perfusion, mammogram with Tomosynthesis for diagnosis of Breast Cancer, Complete Ophthalmology Division, Latest ICU UNIT for newborns and high-risk pregnancies and a unique centre for rehabilitation with the latest machines.

MP Romou said she will stay abreast on the development of the relationship between the clinic and St. Maarten and plans to bring parties together. She said the health of our people is of utmost importance which includes our people having access to top medical care.