Belgium’s parliament on Thursday approved a bill by Health Minister Frank Vandenbroucke related to the limitation of INAMI (Belgium Health Insurance Agency) numbers, which limits students’ access to medical and dental studies.
On the one hand, the historical surplus of doctors in the Wallonia-Brussels Federation is cancelled out, since the Medical Supply Planning Commission takes account of surpluses and the current situation on the ground in its calculation model.
On the other hand, the option of an accelerated reduction of the historical deficit in the Flemish Community, by a royal decree deliberated in the Council of Ministers, is retained.
The law provides a guarantee for the current cohort of medical and dental students, – those who began their basic studies no later than the 2022-2023 academic year – so that they will have access to specialisation training until 2028, for doctors, and until 2027 for dentists, with the associated INAMI numbers.
The Wallonia-Brussels Federation’s minister for higher education, Valérie Glatigny, welcomed the vote.
“This is excellent news for medical and dental students, and for French-speaking patients,” she said. “This agreement gives students the certainty of being able to practise their profession after their training, and will provide the Wallonia-Brussels Federation with a range of medical services that meet local needs.”
“The work of the competent entities – regions and local authorities – will have to continue in order to effectively distribute these future practitioners throughout the French-speaking territory,” she stressed in a press release.
The agreement enables the Wallonia-Brussels Federation to increase the number of INAMI numbers from 505 to 744 for students who will graduate in 2028, and to 929 for 2029. This translates into over 400 more doctors in 2029 than initially planned.
The text marks the provisional end of a saga that began a quarter of a century ago following an agreement between the government of the Federation and the federal government. The agreement is based on the introduction of an entrance exam in the FWB, to be held on 25 August.
Francophone opposition parties – Les Engagés, the PTB and DéFI – have again denounced provisions which, they charge, do not take the shortage of doctors in Brussels and Wallonia into account.
