This morning Jaap van Dissel received bad news for the House of Representatives. The omikron variant could already become dominant in the Netherlands in January, which could lead to 600 hospitalizations and 100 admissions to the international centre. Gommers, chairman of the Dutch Society for Intensive Care (NVIC), is very clear about this. We can’t handle that. There is still a lot of uncertainty and hopefully it will be easier when more becomes clear. But these are black expectations.”
As a bright spot, Gommers are currently noting a decline in hospital admissions. “Hopefully we can recover in January to prepare for the worst case scenario in February.” If the omikron variant really has the upper hand in the Netherlands in January, it would be a disaster, he said. “So we as care can’t refuel at all.”
Amid such alarming forecasts, de Volkskrant reported yesterday that the Ministry of Health launched a plan from the NVIC and the National Coordination Center for Patient Distribution (LCPS) in September. The proposal argued in favor of hiring foreign nurses, who use nearly a hundred intensive care unit beds, to work in the Netherlands from December 1. Gommers can confirm the story. The plan isn’t entirely out yet, but we’re told: Not at the moment. Then we did not go into more detail.
The President of IC understands this decision. “It is also difficult to arrange that in such a short period of time.” However, he would have preferred to have the staff or not. You could have done more regular and acute care after that. Deferred operations could have been done more quickly’. According to Gommers, there is a lot of haste behind continuing acute care. We are currently waiting for figures from the Dutch census on excess deaths. This part of this excess deaths may be due not only to Covid, but also due to delayed care.” So it is still a good idea for Gommers to travel in foreign nurses. “We have fifty empty beds at Erasmus MC, which can be used as soon as we have staff available. work for her.”
Kuipers surveyed their opinion of a ministerial post
Gummers will have a chat with Sven Kokelmann on the day the new coalition agreement will be presented. “As far as I know, fellow Ernst Kuipers has been asked to become a minister,” he says. “I don’t know by whom, and I don’t find that very interesting either.” Gommers are hoping their Erasmus MC manager isn’t going anywhere for now. “He should definitely stay with me. He’s a very nice boss to me.”
