The Dutch Association of Hospitals (NVZ) and the Dutch Federation of University Medical Centers (NFU) make an urgent appeal to the cabinet and Minister Hugo de Jonge. According to them, it is imperative that their staff get vaccinated more quickly. “The situation in hospitals and UMCs threatens to become unsustainable if they have to wait longer than necessary for vaccination,” say the two organizations.
Both the NVZ and the NFU want vaccinations to be done much faster, and are now finally asking the care snail Hugo de Jonge to take action. Both organizations point to the absenteeism among hospital staff, that is shockingly high. Not so much because it is higher than normal, because that was to be expected, but because it simply means that there are fewer hands on the bed and it can therefore cost human lives – if it does not already.
The organizations are also quite right, because this entire lockdown is aimed at easing the pressure on hospitals (and especially the ICUs). The fastest way to remove that pressure is to ensure that hospital staff are less likely to drop out and that absenteeism remains low in the coming months. Training more staff takes far too long. Vaccinating the elderly would protect that target group somewhat, but if people from other target groups also end up in the hospital and there is no staff to care for them, then the entire vaccine makes little sense in the short term.
Hopefully, this very slow cabinet of Rutte and De Jonge will listen to the hospitals and give them absolute priority to the healthcare staff, because this is the only way to get out of this lockdown quickly and the next lockdown – God forbid – much less quickly!
