
Privacy
Your data and results
If you participate in the population screening program, you give consent for your data and result of the screening to be used for the population screening program and for possible follow-up diagnostic tests in the hospital.
Protection of your personal data and privacy
For the population screening program, we use a system that has effective security. It can only be used by people who are authorized to see your data so they can carry out the population screening. We respect the laws that protect your privacy.
Scientific research
Your data and the results from the population screening program may be used for scientific research. Good to know: in scientific research, your data cannot be traced back to you after analysis.
What if you do not give consent to use your data for scientific research? You can still participate in population screening.
Retention periods
Data, medical data and samples of bodily material can be kept for different lengths or time, depending on the screening test or type of data. The differences are listed below:
Your personal data
We keep to the standard retention period stated by the Medical Treatment Agreement Act (Wet op de Geneeskundige Behandelovereenkomst – WGBO). This means that we retain your personal data for 20 years. After that, your data will be removed.
Mammograms (breast cancer screening)
Fundashon Mariadal Bonaire and Sint Maarten Medical Center will provide secure storage of the mammograms. They will be kept for the duration of three complete series of screenings (3 rounds of 2 years). This is the same retention period as in the European Netherlands. After that, the mammograms will be removed.
Bodily material (cervical cancer screening)
Samples of bodily material (cells) are left over after the screening tests. The lab keeps these samples for three months to monitor and improve the quality of the screening program. After that, the samples are destroyed.
If HPV is found during the screening test, the sample of bodily material is used to prepare a specimen for examination (the cells taken from the cervix are processed and presented so they can be viewed under a microscope). In the lab, a researcher checks for any abnormal cells. The prepared sample is kept for 20 years. After that, the samples are destroyed.
It is important to be able to re-examine a specimen later. It can then be determined whether any abnormalities have been missed.
Bodily material (colorectal cancer screening)
Samples of bodily material are used during the screening tests. The lab keeps these stool samples for several days to monitor and improve the quality of the screening program. After that, the samples are destroyed.