Health minister Ernst Kuipers is stepping down with immediate effect to take up a position abroad.

Kuipers, a minister on behalf of D66, was head of the Erasmus teaching hospital before joining Mark Rutte’s fourth cabinet in the aftermath of the coronavirus pandemic.

Kuipers said in his resignation letter that he was proud of what had been achieved in the two years he had held the top job at the health ministry and said it had been an honour to work there.

In particular, he said, new agreements had made the necessary shift from competition to cooperation which would “improve quality and access for patients and give healthcare professionals more pleasure in their jobs”.

Kuipers did not say what job he would be taking up but that it did have a fixed start date. He said “unfortunately” he would only be able to say more later.

Kuipers is the second D66 minister to quit the cabinet in the wake of the general election. Finance minister Sigrid Kaag has also left to take up a position with the UN.