The mayor of Aalst, Christoph D’Haese (N-VA), still does not explicitly endorse the principle of ‘medical solidarity’ and asks for conditionality. This appears after various questions from Aalst city councilors on Tuesday evening.
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At the beginning of this month it appeared that Aalst no longer wanted to receive Brussels patients, despite previous agreements with surrounding hospitals. Coalition partner Open Vld did not speak on Tuesday evening.
Almost all parties, with the exception of Vlaams Belang, were not satisfied with these statements, asked for factual information and understanding for the reciprocity of solidarity in the event that Aalst would need assistance from the surrounding area in the future. But D’Haese was happy to “put the finishing touches” and pointed the finger. According to the mayor, the problems are due to the ‘unacceptable’ attitude of the Brussels mayors ‘to take the measures they had to take’.
‘That is the rock-hard reality’, it sounds Tuesday evening, and ‘the medical price that Brussels pays for its failed political policy for several weeks’. At the beginning of this month, Mayor Christoph D’Haese announced in the media that the limits of ‘medical solidarity’ had been reached when some Brussels hospitals asked to care for corona patients. The statement then caused bad blood at the hospitals in question, which came out of the blue and caused outrage among virologists, national and local politicians.
Brussels
It is also inconsistent with the federal directive. Despite a series of agreements with neighboring hospitals and higher authorities, the Aalst mayor assesses ‘the federal distribution plan as an uneven distribution plan.’ He then nuances the statements in the media. “As mayor, it is my duty to anticipate what is to come,” he said.
In Aalst, two hospitals, the Onze-Lieve-Vrouw Hospital (OLV) and the smaller General Municipal Hospital (ASZ), belong to a network with the Brussels hospital UZ Brussel and AZ Sint-Maria in Halle. Aalst profiles itself as a ‘city of care’ and the mayor points out that he wants to honor that commitment. He says “never, never said” that we would leave a patient untreated.
Yet D’Haese points to the share that non-residents of Aalst would have in the escalation of the virus in recent weeks, especially in Brussels. ‘At times I only saw mouth masks being worn in Wetstraat. But in other places in Brussels it was a minority who wore that, ‘says the mayor from anecdotal experience. ‘Of course we pay a medical price for that.’ According to D’Haese, the Brussels mayors bear a great responsibility.
‘Nobody asked for this virus’
An opinion that is not shared in the Aalst city council. ‘This is no one’s fault. Nobody asked for this virus, ‘says party leader Lander Wantens van Groen. “It is not the time to put the blame on patients,” said CD&V party chairman Théodomir Nsenginmana. ‘I can imagine that people who are now admitted to hospital, as well as their family members, were not satisfied with those statements. Those people are fighting for their lives. ‘
Municipal councilor Els Van Puyvelde (Vlaams Belang) sees referrals as’ current in the context of certain specializations’, but ‘we are now talking about a completely different situation’, and he judges: ‘Urgent care reserved for residents of Aalst. That is not about applying ‘your own people first’ but about common common sense. ‘ That is bad for the sp.a group: ‘I fear that a lot of sawdust has crept into common sense’, Sam Van de Putte replies. The spreading plans must safeguard the regular care for that party. “Up to a level that we have unfortunately exceeded today due to infections coming from all over the country, no longer from a specific zone.”
D’Haese thinks he has opened ‘Pandora’s box’ but informs in passing that Aalst hospitals have not yet refused patients. Fourteen other hospitals did, although the mayor does not specify during the municipal council which hospitals are involved or in what circumstances they are located.
In the city council on Tuesday, almost all Aalst parties ask whether the mayor will stand behind the decision. CD&V finds the comment ‘inappropriate’ and sp.a calls for solidarity, especially during the current crisis. Groen wonders how many Brussels patients had actually already been admitted to Aalst hospitals at the time of the judgments. That question will not be answered on Tuesday evening, city council chairman David Coppens (N-VA) blocks a reply from the mayor on the basis of the municipal council regulations.
Coalition partner Open Vld, the party of aldermen Jean-Jacques De Gucht, will not take the floor on the issue in the Aalst city council on Tuesday evening, although there was also dissatisfaction in the corridors of the party. For example, mayor Guido De Padt (Open Vld) van Geraardsbergen, where the ASZ has a branch, also questioned the controversial ruling.
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