Of the 806 healthcare workers with long Covid who applied for compensation in 2023, around 425 people will receive a one-time payment of €15,000. This is what outgoing Minister Connie Helder (Long Term Care) wrote to the House of Representatives.
Forty applications still need to be evaluated. In addition, 37 applicants were registered after the application period closed.
The ministry was expecting 1,000 applications. “The actual number of awards for health care workers is therefore much lower than previously estimated,” Helder writes in response to more than four hundred approved applications.
The Ministry may have given too broad an estimate. Another reason may be that some “potentially qualified” health care workers did not respond in a timely manner. That’s why Helder will know if she wants to reopen the scheme later.
Compensation only for illness during the first Corona wave
Not every healthcare provider is eligible for this scheme. This only applies to healthcare providers who became ill during the first Corona wave and continue to receive complaints. The first wave was from March to June 2020.
The GroenLinks-PvdA (GL-PvdA) faction wants to allocate an additional 48 million euros this year for patients and healthcare workers suffering from long Covid.
Member of Parliament Julian Boschoff (GL-PvdA) introduced two amendments to the Health, Welfare and Sport (VWS) budget.
The faction wants this money to be used, among other things, to compensate more health care workers. Boshoff proposes extending the period from June 2020 to January 2021.
In addition, the faction wants to spend €27 million on private outpatient clinics for patients with long-term Covid complaints. At the beginning of October, there was a majority in Parliament in favor of opening this type of clinic. The then Minister Ernst Kuipers (Public Health) did not see the added value of this.
The House of Representatives will discuss the VWS budget on Wednesday and Thursday.
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