General practitioners, medical specialists and researchers criticized Health Minister Sophie Hermans’ plans for patients with long Covid and related post-acute infectious syndromes such as ME and Q fever. Hermans wants to reduce the combined annual budget for eight academic expertise centres from €27 million in initial government funding to €1 million and place more responsibility for care with general practitioners. Medical groups said research and clinical guidance were still at an early stage, warning that many doctors had little care to offer and that this could undermine patients’ confidence. The centres said the proposed funding would not cover their research, training and support tasks.

Researchers and doctors also warned that short-term and declining funding was causing staff to leave and threatening follow-up research and the retention of expertise. Amsterdam UMC’s expertise centre was reported to have stopped accepting new patients because staff had left. The Health Council and a ministerial evaluation team had advised substantial investment in the centres and a long-term research programme. Hermans said a process was underway to develop a proposal for organising care for patients with post-acute infectious syndromes and that she could not anticipate its outcome. A demonstration in The Hague was organized to call for more action.