Over 700 people take part in march to preserve the Zuyderland Hospital in Limburg

About 700 people from Heerlen and the surrounding area will take part in a march to The Hague on Saturday for the preservation of the Zuyderland Hospital in Limburg. According to the organizers, the march will include mayors, council members, union representatives and GPs from the region. They want to ensure that obstetrics, the intensive care unit and emergency care in the hospital remain guaranteed.

The hospital serves a large area with around 300,000 inhabitants, many of whom are older and less affluent and therefore potentially less healthy. However, the hospital needs to be restructured, mainly due to staff shortages. For instance, the intensive care unit in Heerlen is to be relocated to Sittard-Geleen, which leads to fewer surgeries and treatments in Heerlen.

The organizers of the demonstration, billed as a "march", have rented 16 buses, including some for wheelchair users. "In total, we have space for 800 people," said Timoer Reijnders, a Heerlen councilor who is helping to organize the march. The march starts in The Hague and ends near the Binnenhof at around midday. There, the demonstrators want to talk to national politicians Frans Timmermans (PvdA-GL), Henri Bontebal (CDA), Jimmy Dijk (SP), a representative of the PVV and the outgoing health minister Pia Dijkstra.

Reijnders says they have received a lot of support from politicians in The Hague. For instance, SP party leader Dijk wrote on X that the political parties should support the action in Limburg as “Politics should be about improving people's living, living and working conditions,” he stated.

However, demonstrators want concrete measures for retention, as developments in Zuyderland continue to go in the wrong direction, according to the councilor.