COVID-19 - Seychellois up in arms against Dutch couple’s comments in De Telegraaf |30 April 2020

The whole of Seychelles yesterday went up in arms following an article published in the De Telegraaf, Holland’s largest and widely read daily newspaper, in which the Dutch couple who tested positive for COVID-19 in Seychelles detail their experience.

Identified as Robert and Thea van der Laarse in the article available online, the author notes that the van der Laarse, who are in their 50s, were expecting a “dream vacation” in the Seychelles islands but instead they experienced a “corona nightmare”.

The couple arrived in the country on March 11 onboard Emirates flight EK 705, the same flight on which an elderly Seychellois couple were also detected positive for the coronavirus. According to the article, Thea strongly believes that her husband got infected while on their flight to Seychelles.

Thea, the wife, tells De Telegraaf that they encountered dirty hospitals in Seychelles, received inadequate care and wrong medications, and underwent questionable testing. She adds that they would never come back to Seychelles.

She is presently quarantined at Berjaya Beau Vallon Bay Resort after continuously testing negative for the virus while her husband, Robert, is still COVID-19 positive and recovering at the treatment centre.

The husband had been in a critical condition and was admitted in the intensive care unit for specialised treatment.

Seychelles NATION contacted the department of health to comment on the article in the De Telegraaf but we did not get any response.

But in an interview with the Seychelles News Agency (SNA), the chief executive of the Health Care Agency Dr Danny Louange said: "We saved his life and he is now stable although he is still testing positive. However, his wife is cured and has been released and is free to leave our facility. But she has opted to stay at our quarantine facility at the Berjaya Beau Vallon Bay Resort.”

Meanwhile, Thea told De Telegraaf: “Robert is very scared, I have also suffered trauma. Governments and the travel industry have responded too late to the rapidly increasing corona hazard. It is unbelievable that such risks have been taken with tourists.”

On the other hand, Dr Louange noted that the country is carrying out tests and treatments based on the guidelines set by the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the United States Centre for Disease Control (CDC).

"Our treatments are WHO accredited and compared to some other countries, we are carrying two tests instead of one to ensure we get the correct diagnosis. These are being done under strict WHO and CDC guidelines and the 11 patients all underwent the same tests," he said.

Dr Louange highlighted that all foreigners who were treated for COVID-19 by the department of health will have to pay the full cost of their treatments as well as for the after-care services at the Berjaya Beau Vallon Bay hotel which has been turned into a quarantine facility.

"This will include intensive care unit facility if they were admitted in the ICU, as well as time spent at the quarantine facility, meals, internet service, hotel room, staffing," explained Dr Louange.

The Health Care Agency is working out the costs for the services provided and carrying out an in-depth assessment before giving the total cost per patient.

As of April 28, the local health authorities had conducted 984 tests including 294 PCR tests (polymerase chain reaction) and 690 rapid tests.

The country also placed over 200 people in quarantine since the beginning of March.

However, Seychellois have called on the van der Laarse couple to issue a public apology to the staff of the health department and to the country for what they believe is a slap in the face to Seychelles’ health care system and its frontliners.

Social media comments and reactions to the Dutch article were mixtures of disbelief and anger, some noting that, unlike advanced and more modern health care systems in United States and Europe, Seychelles has been able to contain the virus and have treated the 11 COVID-19 patients with due care.

Seychelles has not registered any new cases since the 11th positive case was recorded on April 5 and six have recovered.

Meanwhile, as of April 28, 2020, Holland is the 14th most affected country in the world with over 38,000 cases and more than 4,700 deaths.

Elsie Pointe