A spatula, pencil or kebab skewer. Last week, it didn’t matter which wooden object medical students held up to the camera exactly, as long as they broke it in two, filmed it and posted the clip on social media under the hashtag #breekeenlansvoordeco. Through this playful protest, they are calling – together with physicians and other sympathisers – for a reimbursement for all student doctors. It didn’t take long before their stunt was trending on social media.
Long hours
At present, around 4,000 medical students working on rotation at a general hospital aren’t reimbursed for their time. “As student doctors, we aim to gain as much experience as possible and we’re happy to contribute to patient care. Which is why we have no problem working long hours, doing night shifts or working weekends and holidays,” says Amir Abdelmoumen, president of the interest group De Geneeskundestudent.
But this heavy study load does mean that most students can forget about a job on the side. At the same time, they’re required to pay an annual tuition fee of some 2,000 euro during their two years on clinical rotation. “Financial support from your parents is almost a prerequisite. Which doesn’t make the programme particularly accessible for a lot of people,” notes Abdelmoumen.
Battling for years
Since the beginning of this year, an estimated 1,000 medical students working on clinical rotation at a university hospital are reimbursed for their contributions – to the amount of 100 euro per month. De Geneeskundestudent and the interest group Landelijke vereniging van Artsen in Dienstverband (LAD) have been battling for years to make this happen. The reimbursement has been officially recorded in the CLA for university hospitals.
However, general hospitals work with a different CLA – meaning that student doctors working at one of these institutions aren’t entitled to a reimbursement. “The fact that students on rotation at general hospitals miss out has created inequality,” says Abdelmoumen. Over the past few months, LAD says that it has fought to establish a reimbursement for this group during its CLA negotiations with Nederlandse Vereniging van Ziekenhuizen (NVZ). However, these talks stalled in late June. LAD claims that the sector association was opposed to a reimbursement scheme.
Appreciation
But according to an NVZ spokesperson, there were never any negotiations about a reimbursement for student doctors. “This isn’t even a topic of discussion right now. We first need to get back around the table with the unions to talk about a new CLA.” The Nederlandse Federatie van Universitair Medische Centra (NFU) has agreed to a reimbursement for student doctors, but this doesn’t necessarily mean that NVZ will be following suit. “The NFU’s CLA is of no concern to us,” according to the NVZ spokesperson.
The spokesperson is unable to explain why medical students on clinical rotation aren’t reimbursed for their work – in contrast with student nurses. Nor does he want to say whether he thinks it’s fair that they aren’t treated the same as their colleagues working at a university hospital.
