Eight-month gap in health care for 20,000 asylum children
From 1 October there will be no organisation formally responsible for the health care of nearly 20,000 children living in Dutch asylum reception. The contract that currently provides it, between the Central Agency for the Reception of Asylum Seekers (COA) and GGD GHOR, expires on that date. The partnership that takes the work over, Arts en Zorg together with Gezondheidszorg Asielzoekers (GZA), does not begin until 1 June. That leaves an eight-month period in which no one has been named as responsible.
Six children's ombudsmen have written jointly to every minister involved, calling the gap a serious breach of children's rights and asking the cabinet to agree a solution with COA before October arrives.
The care at stake is not emergency treatment. It is the routine work that catches problems early: childhood vaccinations, and the regular checks that pick up physical and psychological difficulties before they become serious. The ombudsmen warn that leaving it unassigned for eight months is likely to mean fewer children vaccinated on schedule, health problems noticed late or missed altogether, and a higher risk of disease outbreaks spreading inside reception locations, where families live in close quarters.
If you have children in reception, there are a few practical things worth doing now. Keep your own copies of vaccination records and any treatment your child has already had, rather than relying on the handover between organisations. If your child has an ongoing condition, takes regular medication, or is waiting on a referral, ask your reception location now who will be handling it after 1 October and try to get the answer in writing. Nothing has been settled yet, so the position may still change before the deadline.