Parliament earmarks €1.5 million to add defibrillators in underserved neighborhoods
The Tweede Kamer has approved a plan to place more defibrillators, also known as AEDs, in low-income neighborhoods and to train additional volunteer responders. The initiative, proposed by GroenLinks-PvdA and ChristenUnie, received backing from coalition parties D66, VVD, and CDA, according to party confirmations to RTL.
A total of 1.5 million euros has been allocated to reduce so-called “white spots,” areas in the Netherlands with few or no AEDs. This year, 500,000 euros will be spent, with another 1 million euros scheduled over the following two years.
Some neighborhoods currently have no operational AEDs. In the Transvaal district of The Hague, for example, HartslagNu, the organization that tracks AED locations, shows none are available.
Julian Bushoff, GroenLinks-PvdA member of the Kamer, highlighted the risks. “Ambulances do come, but it often takes a while. In that time, the difference between life and death can be made. Every minute without resuscitation reduces the chance of survival,” he said.
Data from HartslagNu indicate AED availability is particularly limited in vulnerable areas such as Heerlen-Noord, Utrecht Overvecht, Rotterdam-Zuid, and Transvaal in The Hague. The Dutch Heart Foundation recommends that an AED be accessible within 500 meters, a standard many neighborhoods currently fail to meet.
The funds will also support connecting neighborhoods with insufficient AED coverage to alert systems like HartslagNu and increasing the number of trained citizen responders. Lawmakers emphasize that survival from cardiac arrest should not depend on a person’s postcode.
