Cabinet gives healthcare staff with long Covid higher financial compensation

NOS News•today, 6:20 PM

The financial compensation for healthcare workers with long covid will nevertheless be increased. The group that was already eligible for an amount of 15,000 euros will receive a supplement of 9,010 euros. The total amount therefore amounts to 24,010, writes outgoing Minister Helder of Health, Welfare and Sport (VWS) to the House of Representatives.

Currently, only 425 healthcare employees receive financial compensation, but this group is being expanded. Not only healthcare workers who became ill in the first corona wave (from March to June 2020) will receive compensation. The scheme will also apply to healthcare staff who contracted long Covid between July and the end of December 2020. It is not yet clear how large this group is.

The minister is meeting a demand from a majority of the House of Representatives in January this year. The House believes that the government should be more generous to healthcare workers who worked hard at a time when there were hardly any face masks available and then became chronically ill.

The unions have also campaigned for a better financial settlement and also went to court in February 2023. The unions believe that the state did not sufficiently protect medical staff in the first year of the corona epidemic.

Minister Helder needed a few months to meet the wishes of the House and find money. She says it is “very sad” that some healthcare workers have also lost their “beloved job” in healthcare. The financial compensation is intended “as a gesture in recognition of the suffering caused”, according to the minister.

The extra money and compensation for the new group of healthcare workers with long Covid cannot be transferred immediately. Processing new applications requires preparation time. The minister hopes to have this arranged before the summer.