The Hague Member of Parliament Attje Kuiken (PvdA) is very concerned about the increase in the number of corona infections in Aruba, Curaçao and Bonaire. Now that the hospitals on the islands have reached their borders, she would like to see the Dutch government send the naval vessel Karel Doorman to the Caribbean again.
The Karel Doorman is a support ship with, among other things, a small hospital on board. When a major corona outbreak occurred on Sint Maarten last April, the ship, the largest in the navy, was directed to the Windward Islands.
Kuiken has today put written questions to Minister Hugo de Jonge (Health, Welfare and Sport) and State Secretary Raymond Knops (Internal Affairs and Kingdom Relations) to hear how serious the situation is on the ABC islands. She also asks whether the government is considering introducing a PCR requirement for all travelers with destination the Netherlands.
Below all questions from Attje Kuiken:
- Can you indicate how many hospital admissions there are currently due to the Covid-19 infection on Bonaire?
- How many of these hospital admissions stay on Bonaire and how many stay elsewhere? How many of these are in the intensive care unit?
- Are you aware of any problems with the call center on Bonaire? If so, do you see opportunities to improve this? And if not, are you willing to inquire about this?
- What is the state of affairs with regard to vaccination on Bonaire? Is there sufficient capacity available for the logistics related to vaccination?
- Can you indicate how many hospital admissions there are currently due to the Covid-19 infection in Curaçao? How many of these are in the intensive care unit?
- Are you aware of any measures to scale up regular healthcare in Curaçao? If so, what are the consequences? And if not, are you willing to inquire about this?
- Is there a risk of intensive care overload, and if so, are you prepared to deploy ZMS Karel Doorman to ensure availability of care on the islands?
8 . Are you considering temporarily requiring a negative PCR test for travelers from Aruba, Curaçao and Bonaire to the Netherlands? If not, why not?
Kamerlid Kuiken: Stuur marineschip Karel Doorman naar ABC-eilanden Dossier Koninkrijksrelaties
https://dossierkoninkrijksrelaties.nl/2021/03/23/kamerlid-kuiken-stuur-marineschip-karel-doorman-naar-abc-eilanden/