The fragmentation of healthcare management in Belgium is no longer tenable, the Flemish umbrella organisation for hospitals and care organisations (Zorgnet-Icuro) said on Thursday.
"With the coronavirus health crisis, it has become painfully evident to everyone that the current system is outdated," Zorgnet-Icuro's Managing Director Margot Cloet told Dutch-speaking newspaper De Tijd.
Competences for healthcare should be reduced to one level, Cloet said, suggesting the regional level, pointing out that family child allowances are decided at this level.
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"Let's do the same for the healthcare sector," she said, while underlining that funding should remain a federal matter so as to not undermine solidarity in Belgium.
A regionalisation of healthcare would leave three ministers in charge: one for Flanders, one for Wallonia and one for Brussels.
"Everything would be more fluid if it were taken care of" by one single person, Cloet said, "and it would also cost less," freeing up money that could be used elsewhere.
The Brussels Times
