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PHILIPSBURG – Joe Alcalá, a medical doctor born in Curacao and educated at Groningen University has been appointed as the interim Inspector General at the Ministry of Public Health, Social Development and Labor (VSA) for a period of two years. His tenure started on February 2.
The inspectorate had been without an inspector general for several years and VSA-Minister Brug is therefore happy with the Alcalá’s appointment.”This represents a significant and long-awaited step forward restoring effective oversight and enforcement,” he stated in a press release.
The minister commended the staff of the inspectorate for holding down the fort while there was no inspector-general.”Despite limited leadership capacity, the inspectorate continued to carry out its mandate to the best of its ability.”
Minister Brug furthermore expressed his appreciation for Dr. Daphnellis, who served as acting inspector general and to Fenna Arnell and the entire department of public health. According to the press release, the absence of an inspector general was due to “constraints embedded in outdated legislation.”
Currently, the law requires that inspectors general are qualified medical doctors or a pharmacist. The salary framework for the position has limited the pool of eligible candidates: “No locally practicing medical professional was able to relinquish his or her existing function to assume the role.”
Minister Brug notes that this underscores the need for legislative modernization which is a priority of his ministry.
Dr. Alcalá previously served elsewhere as interim inspector general. “This equips him with the expertise and understanding required to lead during a period of reform,” the press release states. It furthermore states that the appointment is part of a broader reform agenda that focuses “on strengthening governance, enhancing supervisory capacity and ensuring that laws and standards protecting workers, patients and vulnerable populations are consistently and effectively upheld.”
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