Demand for long Covid treatment centers but health minister refuses to provide money

It is extremely painful that outgoing Minister of Health Ernst Kuipers is not providing money for treatment centers and treatments for patients with long Covid complaints, director Diewke De Haen of the patient organization PostCovidNL said this after Kassa reported on the matter. According to De Haen, it is important that the existing knowledge about the disease is centered in one place so that the estimated 90,000 Dutch people with very serious complaints can be helped.

"Kuipers insists that as a post-Covid patient, you can go to your GP or specialist. But the latter will probably say “I don't know either," De Haen explained. By collecting patient stories and knowledge in a treatment center, patients can be helped, said the director. "You also gain expertise when you see patients, not just when you do research. Certain symptoms can already be controlled because we know that the treatment methods work for similar diseases.”

In an interview with Kassa, Kuipers said that it is still too early to reimburse treatments that have not yet been scientifically tested. There are still too many risks and more research needs to be done first.

However, Germany shows that things can be done differently. A total of 109 state-funded specialist clinics for post-COVID have been set up there, which are investigating various treatment methods and experimenting with drugs such as Prednisone.

But the outgoing Health Minister sees the situation differently. He gives the Dutch hospitals responsibility for the treatment of long Covid patients. In his opinion, hospitals have a budget for such cases and patients can consult their GP, physiotherapist or specialist. If the hospitals want to start experimental treatments, they will have to finance this from their own resources and the patient will have to agree in advance to the risks involved, Kuipers told Kassa.

Overall, much is still unclear about long Covid, also known as post-COVID syndrome. It is estimated that more than one million Dutch people have had long-term symptoms due to a Covid-19 infection. A minority of these people have suffered such serious complaints from the infection that it dominates their lives. In October, it was announced that researchers from several teaching hospitals will carry out extensive research into the causes of long Covid symptoms as part of four research projects. The projects are being funded by the Long Covid Foundation (SLC), which has raised around 1.5 million euros in donations.