SZF wants VvA to produce evidence

The State Health Fund (SZF) wants the Association of Pharmacists (VvA) to produce evidence to back up its claim that Cuban physicians do not stick to patient treatment protocols in Suriname and that their prescriptions are either difficult to read or in Spanish. The SZF which wants the evidence to be produced within 3 days wants to know if it is true that Cuban doctors prescribe medicines that are not available in Suriname and which therefore makes it impossible to great patients. The SZF also wants to know if there is in fact a language barrier which makes it impossible to communicate with the Cuban physicians in English or Dutch. The SZF wants to know if this has made it impossible to treat patients who then had to consult a Surinamese physician. The association also claimed that additional mistakes were made and that these mistakes had various consequences for patients. “This is a serious case so the VvA must give more information to back up its claims,” said the SZF in a press release. The SZF pointed out that dozens of Cuban physicians have been working in Suriname for nearly 30 years and that it has not reached the same conclusion as the VvA after it had launched a thorough internal investigation. The SZF also made it clear that it processes and registers most of the prescriptions before adding them to its archives. The Pharmaceutical Inspection of the Health Ministry has been manned mainly by Cuban pharmacists or Surinamese pharmacists who studied in Cuba. The VvA previously never had any objections against letting Cuban pharmacists fill positions at the highest inspection institute,” said the SZF in response to the claims of the VvA.