Parliament wants more medical specialists in Northern region

The Dutch parliament (Tweede Kamer) has passed a motion, calling on the government to base the number of trainee positions for medical specialists in the North on this region’s demographic and spatial characteristics. The motion is based on a recent research project by Faculty of Spatial Sciences researchers Viktor Venhorst, Michiel Daams and Jouke van Dijk, who, in their report entitled “Spatial mobility and regional binding of medical specialists”, describe how many young doctors elect to remain in their training regions. The Northern part of the Netherlands relies on a net-inflow of young doctors in order to meet local demands for health care. Given their life-course phase, spatial mobility is not automatically on the cards for many of these young medical specialists, however. Adjusting the number of trainee positions may help, as it creates stronger inflow and the opportunity to acquaint more potential doctors to this region.

Link to the (Dutch) report: http://hdl.handle.net/11370/64f906f1-9dae-46c0-89af-1185e092016f

Link to the motion:: https://www.tweedekamer.nl/kamerstukken/detail?id=2017Z03277&did=2017D06697

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