column | A new minister coming out of the field is great

If a minister goes to work in the field after his or her departure on which he or she had previously made a policy, we are all rightly offended by that. Rather, a cooling-off period was introduced in order to first resolve potential conflicts of interest.

But oddly enough, we think the opposite is permissible. We are happy if we can appoint a minister who has worked in the field. Finally an expert is calling the shots. Diplomat in Foreign Affairs, scholar of education, culture and science, and gastroenterologist in public health.

The current minister in the last ministry, Ernst Kuipers (D66), is currently making far-reaching decisions about who is allowed to provide what care in the Netherlands, with the only ideology being the dubious paradigm that intensive care is always best. Therefore pediatric heart surgery disappears from Utrecht and Leiden and is concentrated in Groningen (UMCG) and Rotterdam (Erasmus MC). The consequences for academic hospitals and patients are enormous. And you wonder if the Minister would have made the same decision if he were not the President of Erasmus MC, but the President of LUMC.

Or get birth care in the area, traditionally a point of contention between medical professionals and midwives. In Zutphen, the delivery rooms will be closed due to the small number of babies. The Zutphen children would soon have Deventer or Apeldoorn as their place of birth. This also has far-reaching consequences, for more than just the gynecological department. Because babies are often born at home in the Netherlands. This is the most accessible care, and an important achievement for Dutch women. But does the midwife still dare to do this, knowing that the nearest hospital is a long drive away? A home birth can only be safe if the support is excellent. And soon it will only be available in the city. Not in the area. You would almost vote BBB.

Would Minister Kuipers have made the same decisions if he had not looked at the world for so long from the perspective of a medical professional in Rotterdam? What if he was a midwife before? Would he have made the same decisions if the focus of care as a peripheral surgeon would have condemned him to the same monotonous operation until the end of time? What if Kuipers was a doctor in a hospital where all the interesting and complex cases were always collected in ambulances instead of being delivered?

“I understand that changes in the healthcare landscape stir emotions,” she said. The minister replies To parliamentary questions from PvdA party leader Atci Koyken. But there is a “standard set by law” and all decisions fall within that standard.

“I understand the feelings.” This is the eternal answer D66. I understand the sentiment, but this is a standard, here’s the law, here’s the policy, here’s the fact.

The declaration of facts is also the identity of D66 Minister Robbert Dijkgraaf (flag). A consultant was introduced to her new Independent Science Communication Center this week. Fortunately, the Masters of Supply were able to greatly weaken Jedcraf’s disturbing truths. The center will not send the flag, but rather connect organizations and stimulate dialogue with the community. Independent communication, no marketing of search results.

However, this echoes: Science is often not well understood by society, it needs more explanation. Again the D66 model: we need to explain it better.

The center would certainly have been a great initiative if science had been a toothless, lovable institution that published nothing but impartial facts. But this is not science. Knowledge has power. Dijkgraaf has the power, RIVM has the power, the nitrogen masters have the power; From 2020 to 2022, scientists at OMT ruled the Netherlands de facto. The Dutch are often the target of politics disguised as a flag, and their objections are dismissed as emotion or dismissed as incomprehensible. Of course this can be solved by explaining everything better. Because of these changes in power relations, your flag has to communicate less and control more. And this control, for example by journalists, becomes more difficult as the communication budget increases.

My suggestion is to introduce a cooling-off period before anyone becomes a minister.

Roseanne Hertzberger He is a microbiologist.