The special telephone line where healthcare and educational personnel can report with priority for a corona test, was no longer available on Monday morning after half an hour. Anyone who calls the number is told that too many people are calling and that no one can answer.
NU.nl receives several reports from teachers and nursing staff who have tried to call from the opening of the line and cannot get through.
GGD director Sjaak de Gouw reported in the NOS Radio 1 News that in the first hour more than 3,100 people tried to book an appointment. The GGD and the Ministry of Health previously reported on a few thousand tests per day.
The GGD and the Ministry of Health opened the number 0800-8101 on Monday at 8:00 am, so that education and healthcare personnel can be tested as a priority.
To ensure that only teachers and nursing staff call the number, two checks are carried out: the caller is first checked on the phone and then also on the test street. They need a statement from their employer showing that they belong to the target group.
The government has asked employers to ensure that their employees do not make unnecessary use of this scheme, in order to prevent the priority streets from filling up too quickly. The priority regulation applies temporarily until the capacity of the normal test lanes is restored.
For a long time the cabinet did not want to make a distinction
For a long time, the cabinet did not want to make a distinction between testing professional groups with corona-related complaints, but in response to concerns in the House of Representatives about staff shortages, it nevertheless discussed the options with the GGD.
Due to a shortage of capacity in the laboratories that analyze tests and the growing demand for corona tests, the test lines of the GGDs are under pressure. The number of test requests is currently higher than what the GGDs can handle, so people have to wait longer for an appointment and the corresponding result.
Priority applies only to certain essential groups
In education, this concerns personnel in (special) primary and secondary education. The minister reports that they will be given priority if it is necessary to prevent children from receiving education. The scheme does not apply to childcare employees.
Part of the healthcare staff is also given priority. This concerns employees who, among other things, cannot be replaced by a colleague and who are also essential for patient and client care and the continuity of care.
De Jonge has quickly promised more test capacity
Hugo de Jonge, Minister of Health, Welfare and Sport, is busy increasing the lab capacity. To this end, he has made agreements with three parties abroad. He expects the capacity problems to be resolved by early October. Only when more lab capacity is available can the test capacity be further scaled up.
Now almost 37,000 corona tests can be performed daily. The minister hopes that this will be 50,000 a day by the end of September.
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