Curaçao doctors end four-day strike as pharmacies reopen

Family doctors in Curaçao are due to return to work on Friday after a four-day strike, while pharmacies that closed in solidarity are also reopening following pressure from the health inspectorate.

The Curaçao Medical Association (CNHV) called on its members to end the strike on Thursday, after the government filed an urgent court case. The dispute is over fees that doctors say have not changed for 14 years. Pharmacists are seeking updated rates after 25 years without a change, while physiotherapists have also complained that their rates have remained the same for 28 years.

The health minister had called the doctors’ strike “unacceptable, unreasonable and disproportionate”, arguing that the public interest in accessible care outweighed doctors’ financial interests.

During the court proceedings, a judge proposed an amicable settlement that both sides accepted. A study of costs, efficiency and fees is to be carried out in the short term.

Pharmacies are reopening after the public health inspectorate warned it would impose fines for failing to observe legally required opening hours. The fines start at 10,000 guilders and can rise to 100,000 Caribbean guilders, about €50,000.