Brussels hospitals are being taken to court by the non-profit, Flemish People's Movement (VVB), for reportedly not complying with legal requirements to offer services in both Dutch and French.
The VVB has initiated seven legal proceedings against multiple hospitals. "Dutch-speaking patients cannot be assisted in Dutch: this leads to unfortunate situations," explained the head of VVB, Michael Discart.
As the proceedings are still ongoing, the VVB does not wish to disclose exactly which hospitals are involved.
The association recently visited several hospitals, including Delta Chirec, Saint-Luc, UZ Brussel, Sint-Pieter and Erasmus, to check whether they were complying with language legislation and whether patients could therefore also be treated in Dutch.
The VVB does not want to "name and shame: the hospitals," the organisation says, but wants solutions to the problem.
"This has been going on for 50 years and it's only getting worse," says Discart. "A patient arrives at A&E, seven nurses rush to him, but none of them speak Dutch. A woman on her deathbed wants to speak to her children, but the staff don't understand. The stories we hear are all tragedies."
According to the VVB, UZ Brussel is an example of a hospital with good language practices. There, employees wear coloured badges indicating which language they speak, and there is a detailed language policy with a language coach.
"This shows that it is possible to work on this," says Discart. "But there has to be a will."
In addition to the seven legal proceedings, the VVB has also filed four complaints with the Permanent Language Monitoring Committee. One of these complaints has already been declared admissible and well-founded.
The organisation is currently working on a so-called "Black Book", which compiles the language problems in Brussels healthcare and formulates solutions for a better language policy.
The document is being drawn up in collaboration with the Flemish Committee for Brussels and the Flemish Medical Association.
