Ten parties reached an agreement on a €402 million fund for training and recruiting healthcare staff, MPs Marc Goblet and Jan Bertels announced on Wednesday evening.
A draft law will be assessed on Thursday in the hope that "additional recruitment will be carried out quickly in order to relieve the burden on healthcare staff," the co-signatories said, stressing that health workers "have been an essential link in the fight against" the coronavirus pandemic.
The draft law follows the re-launch of a task force on the so-called White Coat Fund. It was co-signed by MPs from ten parties (PS, sp.a, Ecolo, Groen, MR, Open VLD, CD&V, CdH, PTB and N-VA).
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In November 2019, this task force made it possible to adopt a first bill freeing up €67 million to create additional jobs in the healthcare sector.
The new coronavirus (Covid-19) crisis has highlighted the need to "put ourselves at the bedside of the white coats," Goblet and Bertels said. The draft law to be considered on Thursday therefore plans to make the White Coat Fund permanent.
Of the total sum, €354 million would be to reinforce the employment of nursing staff - including €320 million for recruitment purposes and €35 million to strengthen training. €48 million will be allocated to self-employed nursing staff.
The Brussels Times
