Distorted picture about the number of doctors in Suriname
Health Minister Antoine Elias on Tuesday indicated that there are currently 0.8 doctors per ten thousand inhabitants in Suriname. Since the population of Suriname is currently around 560 thousand, a quick calculation tells us that according to Elias there are only 45 doctors in Suriname. But statistically speaking this is not true because the phone book alone contains the names of over 200 doctors and according to the World Health Organization (WHO) there were already 697 registered doctors in Suriname in 2018.
The WHO figures for 2018 indicate that the doctor-patient ratio per ten thousand inhabitants for Suriname is now 12.26. “This is a deception of the people and the government wants to consciously hide the failing health policy by producing these lies”, said Mukesh Simbhoedatpanday, chairman of the General Physicians section of the Association of Medical Practitioners in Suriname (VMS), in a statement. The VMS expressed disappointment in response to the statements made by President Desi Bouterse, Health Minister Elias and Education, Science and Culture Minister Lilian Ferrier at the press conference on Tuesday.
“The president’s press conference and the statements made are a direct attack on the medical profession. The government is encouraging citizens to disrespect the Surinamese doctors and to respect the Cuban doctors! So in this case the government of Suriname, puts foreigners first before its own citizens? While it has been proven that our education is fully adequate internationally and Suriname delivers excellent doctors,” said the president of the section who added that one should know that the doctors in Suriname have far fewer resources. “Yet we offer the same quality of health care as the foreigners and we do much more work to be able to maintain that, while the government is no longer making funds available. On the contrary, the funds will be made available for the arrival of the Cuban doctors. It is striking that the same government now believes that very little is being done by the Surinamese doctors in the field of preventive and mental health care, even though it is them who have made serious cuts in the budget for these care areas,” said Simbhoedatpanday.