A hospital in Eindhoven has won its case against acting health minister Ab Klink who ordered it to stop performing a new method of heart valve surgery, reports Friday’s Volkskrant.

Klink decided earlier this year that the surgery should be concentrated in just five hospitals which did not include the Catharina hospital in Eindhoven. It was ordered to stop the procedure on August 15.
The minister said at the time that with just 200 such operations a year, concentrating the procedure in five centres would allow surgeons to do more of them and increase the probability of success.
The hospital went to court, citing its international reputation as a cardiac disease centre and that it was the first in the Netherlands to perform the new operation in 2008. It was granted an extension to October 21 and hopes to get the decision overturned before that date.
The new procedure is used for patients who are not strong enough to undergo open heart surgery. The new valve is installed via the groin and an artery.
Klink’s approved hospitals for the operation are Amsterdam AMC, Leiden LUMC, Maastricht AZM, the Sint Anthonius in Nieuwegein and the Amphia in Breda.