This call to action is constructive and concrete. DVG (Department of Public Health), and by extension the government, has the following window of opportunity to act:
- The public deserves an official update every 48 hours regarding both the local and international situation. Not a lengthy press release — just a clear, honest update with an exact date.
- There must be a clinical briefing at the Horacio Oduber Hospital to ensure that medical personnel can distinguish between the symptoms of Andes HPS (Hantavirus Pulmonary Syndrome) and dengue or influenza, which present with similar symptoms here in Aruba.
- The government can request cooperation with KLM for voluntary screening of passengers with relevant travel history prior to boarding at Schiphol.
- The ED-Card system can be temporarily updated to include a travel declaration for the next 45 days, specifically regarding cruises and routes from South America and South Africa.
- Finally, there must be coordination with the hotel sector to ensure that standard cleaning procedures — which easily eliminate the virus — are being applied correctly.
This is not a pandemic. There is no need for a lockdown. It is simply a proportionate, specific, and time-limited prevention strategy. Nothing more, but certainly nothing less.
A final word to DVG and to our people
The era of blindly accepting incomplete information belongs to history. Today’s standard is different, and it is only reasonable that it is different.
As a community, we deserve an authority that builds trust through transparency, not through a manufactured and therefore obviously artificial calm.
Patients and citizens are organizing themselves. The SIKI Foundation and the upcoming National Patients Platform demonstrate exactly that. We are not here to fight against DVG — we are here to work together with DVG and demand the standards that our people deserve.
In the next 48 hours and the coming six weeks, my call to DVG is simple: step into your role. Completely. With transparency. With a commitment to continuous communication.
Jayburtt Dijkhoff, PhD, is a Doctor of Health Rights Law and President of the SIKI Foundation.