Vroegop:‘HOH would cut planned care before being unable to pay staff’

ORANJESTAD — Horacio Oduber Hospital director Jacco Vroegop has denied a report published on the front page of Diario suggesting that, without financial intervention, the hospital may be unable to pay staff salaries by November. “No, that is not correct,” Vroegop told Noticiacla.

According to the hospital director, there is no immediate threat to salary payments. The real risk is that HOH will have to reduce the amount of regular planned care it provides if available funding does not cover the actual cost of treatment.

“We would stop regular planned care first,” Vroegop explained.

The distinction is important. According to the director, the scenario is not that the hospital will run out of money to pay staff in November, but that its capacity to provide care may have to be reduced if funding does not cover the real costs.

“If AZV does not want to pay the correct amount for the care it wants to purchase from us, then we cannot provide that care and they will have to purchase it elsewhere,” Vroegop said.

His comments put the hospital’s financial dispute in a different perspective: the immediate risk is not salaries, but access to care.

Noticiacla previously reported that, according to Vroegop, HOH is not receiving enough funding to maintain the level of care Aruba requires. The director has said that AZV compensation increases by approximately 2% per year, while inflation, medicines, medical supplies, freight and other operating costs have risen much faster.

Vroegop is now repeating that warning.

“There is one pool of money, and everything has to be paid from that pool. If that pool is no longer sufficient, we can accept that and provide less care, or more money has to be added so that everyone receives the care they need on time.”

According to Vroegop, AZV wants to maintain growth of around 2% per year, while inflation alone may already exceed that figure, without even counting international increases in the prices of medicines, materials, freight and other services.

The director strongly criticizes that position.

“AZV wants the best possible deal while paying almost nothing, at the expense of the population that has properly paid its premiums,” Vroegop said.

GOVERNMENT WANTS INDEPENDENT ANALYSIS

The dispute has meanwhile reached the government. The minister responsible for Public Health, UO AZV and SZA/HOH have agreed to commission an independent financial analysis to determine how much funding the hospital actually needs and what measures are necessary to guarantee continuity of care.

The government has said the analysis must produce verifiable information and that the continuity and quality of care should not be compromised while the review is underway.

Vroegop has no objection to another review, but questions why it is necessary.

“Our figures are checked and audited by an independent accounting firm, Ernst & Young, year after year, and they are transparently available on our website. If AZV and the minister want to review them again, that is of course fine. But it is a strange situation if the audited figures from EY — and therefore EY itself — are apparently not being taken sufficiently seriously.”

The financial pressure is already affecting hospital capacity. Recently published information indicates that an operating room and an endoscopy room have remained closed until November, while healthcare professionals have expressed concern about the impact of insufficient funding on patient care.

For Vroegop, the choice is ultimately simple: if available funding does not increase in line with the real cost of care, the hospital will no longer be able to provide the same level of services.

But the director is clear on one point: staff salaries are not currently under threat. The real danger is that HOH will have to limit care further.