Minister wants more attention for women-specific healthcare; Could save billions: study

Outgoing Minister Pia Dijkstra for Healthcare wants more research into women-specific health problems. She called on the healthcare sector to get started on this and promised to make a “substantial amount” available to facilitate it, NOS reports. A study by the Dutch Association for Obstetrics and Gynecology (NVOG) and Women Inc. found that this could save Dutch society billions of euros per year.

The researchers found that female-specific conditions like endometriosis, menopausal symptoms, or pelvic floor problems affect almost every single woman. Yet doctors often misdiagnose them or dismiss the symptoms as “female troubles that are part of being a woman.” It can take years for a woman to get the correct diagnosis. The average endometriosis diagnosis takes seven to ten years after the first symptoms.

According to the researchers, four common conditions - pelvic floor problems, cycle disorders, hormone-related disorders, and vulvar problems - cost the Netherlands between 2.5 and 7.8 billion euros in 2022, mainly in the form of absenteeism and unnecessary care while women tried to get the right diagnosis.

The actual costs are likely much higher. The healthcare costs women incur before getting the correct diagnosis and treatment are difficult to quantify. “If the diagnosis of endometriosis is registered, it does not state that someone has also been to pain clinics and gastrointestinal doctors and had blood tests done,” Amrah Schotanus, one of the researchers, told NRC on Friday, International Women’s Day. “But we know from gynecologists and cardiologists that this is often the case.”

Dijkstra responded to that study on Friday, International Women’s Day. She called it incomprehensible that there is so little knowledge about women-specific healthcare. “We have over 8.8 million women in our country, and almost every woman experiences such a condition. Without this knowledge, we cannot treat it properly.”