Philipsburg, Sint Maarten – Minister of Public Health, Social Development and Labor (VSA), Richinel Brug, has announced significant progress in the ongoing Healthcare Professional Registrar Project, with the project now entering an important next phase focused on stakeholder review, system design, and legislative preparation.
According to Minister Brug, several key components of the project have already been completed over the past months, including stakeholder consultations, legislative analyses, comparative reviews of healthcare registration systems within the Dutch Kingdom and the region, as well as working visits to Aruba and Curaçao to assess best practices and opportunities for collaboration.
The Minister noted that the project team has also completed important groundwork related to the future operational and legislative structure of the healthcare professional registry.
“We are now moving into a very important stage of the project where stakeholder feedback and practical system design will help shape the final direction of the healthcare registrar for Sint Maarten, prior to drafting the actual legislation,” Minister Brug stated.
The next step in the project is the finalization of the discovery report, which will incorporate feedback and input received from all relevant stakeholders consulted throughout the process. Once finalized, the report, together with proposed design options for the type of health registry Sint Maarten should establish, will be distributed to stakeholders for review during June and July 2026.
Minister Brug explained that stakeholder involvement remains critical to ensuring that the final registry system is practical, transparent, effective, and tailored to Sint Maarten’s healthcare environment.
To continue the consultation process, the project team intends to host a follow-up stakeholder meeting during mid-to-late August 2026. During this session, stakeholders will have the opportunity to openly discuss the proposed registry models, provide additional feedback, and assist in refining the preferred design for the future healthcare professional registry.
This consultation phase will also help prepare the project for the next operational stage, including the publication of the Terms of Reference (TOR) for the ICT Specialist, which will support the development of the future digital registry platform.
Following completion of the stakeholder consultation process, the project’s starting note is expected to be finalized during the third quarter of 2026 once all relevant stakeholder information has been incorporated. This will allow the legislative draftsman to formally commence the drafting process for the updated healthcare legislation required to support the registrar.
“This project is about building a stronger and more transparent healthcare system for the people of Sint Maarten. By establishing clear professional standards and a proper registration framework for Sint Maarten, we are taking important steps to strengthen healthcare governance, improve oversight, and safeguard patient safety for years to come,” the Minister concluded.
