MPs want government to open outpatient clinics for people with Long Covid

A majority in the Tweede Kamer, the lower house of the Dutch parliament, wants outpatient clinics for people with Long Covid. ChristenUnie parliamentarian Nico Drost made a proposal to this effect in the Kamer on Wednesday evening.

The proposal got support from D66, CDA, PVV, GroenLinks-PvdA, SGP, and BBB.

According to Drost, many patients “yearn” for effective treatment. But it is “unfortunately not available yet,” he said in the parliamentary debate on the social impact of Long Covid. “Seriously ill people are sometimes desperate because they don’t know where to turn.”

“Let there be clarity quickly about where they can go. Organizing special Long Covid outpatient clinics is a huge step in this regard because they then have a permanent point of contact and therefore have the prospect of targeted and appropriate treatment,” Drost argued.

About 450,000 people in the Netherlands have Long Covid, and 90,000 are severely limited in their participation in society. According to Drost, many children, young people, and adults suffer in silence. According to the ChristenUnie MP, it is not only a medical problem but a broad social problem.

Healthcare Minister Ernst Kuipers is against the idea of separate outpatient clinics for patients with Long Covid. “That seems extremely unwise to me, and there is no need for it,” the outgoing Minister said, to the dismay of the Kamer. According to Kuipers, these patients can go to general practitioners and specialists. Doctors are free to set up an outpatient clinic themselves, Kuipers said. He sees no role for himself in facilitating this.

At the end of the debate, Kuipers gave up his “resistance.” If the Kamer wants outpatient clinics, he will not stop it. He said he understood the call but maintained that patients with Long Covid can already go to other places for diagnosis and care.