Forty companies in the pharmaceutical industry presented their joint code of conduct to Minister Bruno Bruins for Medical Care on Friday. This code is meant to be their "moral compass". The Minister immediately called the code inadequate, pointing out that it says nothing about medicine prices - a major point of concern for him, NOS reports.
Health
Jan 24 '20 11:55
The Dutch national institute of public health RIVM is readying an Outbreak Management Team in response to the new Coronavirus outbreak in China. Experts will be meeting at the Ministry of Public Health, Welfare and Sports on Friday to discuss the virus and whether measures need to be taken, the Telegraaf reports.
Such a meeting is relatively standard procedure when new viruses appear in the world, the Ministry said. Similar meetings were held after the outbreak of SARS and MERS, among others. Officials and experts will continue to consult throughout next week.
Jan 24 '20 08:40
Following Amsterdam's lead, Utrecht and Rotterdam are launching large-scale checks of municipal buildings for the presence of lead water pipes, the municipalities told NOS.
Jan 22 '20 15:20
A GGD study into the HIV inhibitor PrEP showed that the treatment is an effective way to prevent an HIV infection, despite one of the 376 participants in the study contracting the virus, according to the Parool. PrEP, short for Pre-exposure prophylaxis, t is a way for people who do not have HIV, but who are at a high risk of getting the virus, to help prevent HIV infection by taking a pill every day. The pill, marketed under the brand name Truvada, contains the medicines tenofovir and emtricitabine, that are used in combination with other medications.
Jan 22 '20 12:00
The Dutch health authorities as yet see no reason to erect a quarantine zone at Schiphol airport due to the outbreak of the new Coronavirus in China. Dutch airline KLM is also not taking any additional measures as yet, the airline said in a statement to passengers on Wednesday morning.
According to the European center for disease control ECDC, the chance of the Coronavirus coming to Europe is small. In addition, there are no direct flights between the Netherlands and Wuhan - the Chinese province with the most Corona infections.
Jan 21 '20 11:00
At least four children and one teacher at primary school De Vlieger in Schoonhoven have been diagnosed with Hepatitis A, school director Mireille Burema confirmed to Omroep West. To prevent the outbreak spreading further, municipal health service GGD Hollands Midden will vaccinate all 220 pupils and staff against the infectious disease.
GGD Hollands Midden advises parents who think their child might have Hepatitis A to go to their doctor for a blood test.
Jan 20 '20 08:48
The chance of people surviving a cancer diagnosis is on the rise. 66 percent of people diagnosed with cancer in 2013 were still alive five years later, compared to 64 percent the year before, according to the Dutch Cancer Registry, NOS reports.
The so-called "five year survival" in the Netherlands increases by approximately 1 percent per year, due to better and faster diagnoses and treatments. When the Dutch Cancer Registry started keeping track of cancer patients in 1989, patients had a 42 percent chance of being alive five years after a cancer diagnoses.
Jan 17 '20 08:03
Waiting lists for specialist treatments at hospitals and clinics in the Netherlands are still on the rise. The average waiting times for most specialties were considerably higher last year than four years ago, and in almost all cases exceeded the applicable standards, the Telegraaf reports based on recent figures from Mediquest.
Jan 16 '20 12:40
Problems with health care relatively often played a role in the suicide of young people between the ages of 10 and 20 years in 2017, according to a study performed on behalf of the Ministry of Public Health. Young people who took their own lives in that year also often struggled with bullying or having high expectations of themselves, the researchers found.
Jan 15 '20 15:20
The Leeuwarden Medical Center stopped all data traffic with the outside world as a precaution after hackers tried to break into the hospital's systems, the hospital said on Wednesday.
As a result of this measure, patients cannot access their electronic records, communication with other hospitals is hindered, and hospital employees are unable to work from home.
Jan 14 '20 17:00
On Tuesday a group of patients on the organ donor waiting list called on Netherlands residents to tell their loved ones whether or not they want their organs donated after death. "It is a decision with which you do not want to unwittingly saddle your loved ones at a difficult moment," said 48-year-old Peter, who is waiting for a heart, on the Nierstichting website.
Jan 14 '20 07:55
Eight forensic care institutes are taking the Ministry of Justice and Security to court. According to the clinics, there is currently too little budget for them to effectively treat dangerous patients with a mental or psychiatric disorder. The shortages in the clinics are increasing and that can create dangers for society, the clinics said, RTL Nieuws reports.
Jan 13 '20 16:10
The number of organ transplants in the Netherlands fell by six percent last year, from 817 in 2018 to 769 in 2019, transplantation foundation NTS announced on Monday. The foundation attributes the decrease in transplants to the fact that fewer people donated their organs after death. There was a striking increase in surviving relatives blocking a transplant after death.
Jan 9 '20 07:37
More than half of the foster parents who stop foster parenting do so because the do not feel taken seriously, had bad experiences with youth protectors, or feel they received too little support, Trouw reports based on a study by the Netherlands' youth institute NJi.
The NJi interviewed 542 foster families who stopped fostering between 2017 and 2018. Other negative reasons for quitting include problems with the foster child or a difficult relationship with the biological parents, the newspaper said.
Jan 8 '20 14:30
A total of 168 people injured one or both their eyes with fireworks this New Year's, around 30 more than the previous New Year's, according to the Dutch ophthalmic society NOG. 13 people blinded an eye, and five completely lost an eye, NOS reports
The number of patients with eye damaged caused by fireworks has been increasing since 2017, according to NOG. The majority, 65 percent, of victims were injured by legal fireworks. Almost half of the victims were injured by fireworks lit by someone else.
NOG therefor calls for a complete ban on consumer fireworks.
Jan 6 '20 15:10
The Wilhelmina Hospital in Assen is launching an experiment in which heavy smokers will be treated in the same way as people addicted to drugs or alcohol. The hospital will have a specialized addiction clinic where a team of medical specialists will treat lung patients who have to quit smoking, but can't manage it, De Stentor reports.
Jan 6 '20 09:17
A total of 1,300 people were injured by fireworks over New Year's, 7 percent more than the 2018/2019 New Year's period, according to figures from VeligheidNL. Brigitte Blatter from the safety organization called the increase worrying. "It therefore appears that the safety measures taken, such as banning certain fireworks or better information, have not helped," she said to NU.nl.
In total, 385 people ended up in emergency rooms after fireworks accidents. 900 people went to GP posts with minor injuries. Last year there were 396 emergency room visits and 800 GP post visits.
Dec 24 '19 15:54
Geertje Kuijntjes, who became the oldest living person in the Netherlands in 2015, has died at the age of 114. The lifelong resident of Gorinchem, Zuid-Holland, was unmarried with no children, according to RTL Nieuws.
"After a long and active life, our town's oldest inhabitant, and that of the Netherlands, Ms. Geertje Kuijntjes, died on Christmas Eve," wrote Gorinchem mayor Reinie Melissant. "I wish her surviving relations the strength to adjust to this loss."
Dec 23 '19 09:07
Some 16 percent of children in the Netherlands are growing up in a single-parent household, a substantial 48 percent rate increase compared to 20 years ago. Fewer than 11 percent of children lived with one parent back in 1999, and the rate steadily grew over time, according to Statistics Netherlands (CBS).
"This situation can arise because, for example, parents have separated, a parent has died or the parents have never lived together," the statistics office said. Nearly nine-in-ten of the 538 thousand children are registered at the mother's address.
Dec 22 '19 13:06
With a new year comes a host of law changes, new rules, and regulations to be implemented in the Netherlands. The Dutch government is enforcing dozens of these new laws as of January 1, 2020. Every year, the NL Times does a roundup of these rules changes for non-Dutch speaking people. Here follows a summary of the main changes per category.
For 2020, the Dutch government categorized these laws into nine different sections. Click on each section header for a full article about each category's changes in the new year.
Dec 20 '19 14:20
Dutch supermarkets were more likely to share vegetarian recipes in their annual Christmas magazines, with 42.2 percent of the recipes promoting vegetarian dishes, according to animal welfare organization Wakker Dier. It is the first year that that the top 11 supermarkets shared the recipes, with an overall increase from about 40 percent.
The group looked at main and side dishes for any meal, but not dessert courses. Recipes were examined for their inclusion of meat or fish.
Dec 20 '19 11:29
Within 12 months, greenhouse gas emissions in the Netherlands must be reduced by at least 25 percent in comparison to 1990, the country's Supreme Court said in a ruling on Friday. The Court upheld lower court decisions that said the case was a human rights issue, and in turn ordered the emissions reduction, which Dutch environmental assessment agency PBL said was an unobtainable and "out of reach" goal.
Dec 19 '19 12:50
Many doctors in the Netherlands are not willing to provide euthanasia to people with psychological problems. As a result, the seven psychiatrists at the Expertise Center Euthanasia are flooded with patients. The waiting time for a euthanasia trajectory for psychiatric patients is currently more than a year. And there are around 100 people on the waiting list, the Expertise Center Euthanasia told Trouw.
Dec 18 '19 13:15
The Dutch government is implementing a large number of rules, regulations, and law changes at the stroke of midnight on January 1. Below is a summary of changes made in the category Health, Care and Sport:
