The Lijm de Zorg manifesto, which was introduced by care providers and patients on Monday, delivered more than 50,000 signatures in more than five days. Coordinator Louis de Mast tells in a conversation with NU.nl that the manifesto will soon go to the House of Representatives, but that it will remain open to gain even more support for the time being.
Lijm de Zorg needed 40,000 signatures to be able to hand over the manifest to the House. That will happen after the debate in the Lower House on waiting lists in mental health care (GGZ), assures De Mast.
Before the time comes, he hopes that a total of 90,000 signatures have been placed. “The waiting list is that long. It would be a nice symbolic number. A lot of signatures are still being made at the moment.”
According to De Mast, many reactions have been received from “Charlottes” in the Netherlands. In this way De Mast refers to Charlotte Bouwman, one of the initiators who has been sitting in front of the ministry every day since Monday morning. Her waiting time for the right help had risen to above eight hundred days.
De Mast received many similar responses to the manifesto. “Many signatures come from patients who had to wait for years for the right help and who were found to be ‘too complex’ at the end of the ride. Then there is no other option than to join the queue again.”
Bouwman does not sit in front of the ministry on Saturday and Sunday. “Charlotte has a few rest days: after all, the ministry is closed. That way she can recover from a hectic week”, says De Mast. On Monday at 9 a.m. she will take her place again at the Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport.
“The vicious circle of finger pointing”
De Mast is disappointed that both the ministry and health insurers and providers dare not take responsibility. “They point to each other. Health insurers have a statutory duty of care, the ministry says. But the health insurers claim that there are too few specialist places available. Providers of these have been asking for extra staff and money from the ministry for a long time. It is a dire situation.”
A help desk is an interim solution, De Mast believes. “Let someone take control and organize the care there. Take the responsibility back to where it belongs: at the ministry.”
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