On March 28, the first 31 nurses in the Dutch Caribbean and the Caribbean parts of the Kingdom received their Basic Acute Care training certificates in the presence of the Dutch State Secretary for Health, Welfare and Sport (M. van Ooijen) and the Ministers of Health of Aruba (D. Oduber), Curaçao (D. Pietersz-Janga) and St. Maarten (O. Ottley). The State Secretary also announced an extension to the CARIBHA program.
The 31 nurses are part of a group of over 100 nurses from Aruba, Curaçao, St. Maarten, Bonaire and St. Eustatius, who are all taking the Basic Acute Care course. BAC is part of the training program of the Caribbean Health Academy (CARIBHA). VUmc Academy was commissioned by and received funding from the Dutch Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport to train nurses in the hospitals of Aruba, Curaçao, St. Maarten, Bonaire, Saba and St. Eustatius, which together form the Dutch Caribbean Hospital Alliance (DCHA U.A. i.o).
During the festive gathering, the State Secretary described the close cooperation between the kingdom countries in this project. Both the State Secretary and the ministers of the countries involved complemented the nurses and trainers, and stressed the importance of training in the healthcare sector. The State Secretary also announced an extension to the CARIBHA program, meaning that in addition to the original 100 nurses, a further 60 nurses in the islands will be able to take the BAC course. This will relieve the pressure on the acute care departments and create a pool of staff who can be deployed quickly and effectively in the event of emergency situations, such as a pandemic or hurricane.