Dutch hospital umbrella organisation NVZ has called on the government to intervene in what it considers the unfair competition practices by private clinics which carry out straightforward operations such as hip replacements which are paid for via health insurance.

According to the NVZ, some private clinics are “aimed at production and profit, helped by an aggressive media campaign” and “boosted by private investors and shareholders”.

Private clinics are creaming off the lucrative smaller medical interventions while hospitals have a duty to provide intensive care and emergency care 24/7, the NVZ said.

Turnover at private clinics is estimated to have risen by 70% in the last few years, money that hospitals need as well to survive, according to NVZ chairman Ad Melkert

Private clinics are also poaching staff, lured by higher wages and more convenient working hours, the organisation said, increasing pressure on staff at hospitals and waiting lists.

“These clinics could contribute to shorter waiting lists but often they go for quick and easy profits. They don’t have the running of a complete hospital. We cannot allow our public health system, which is based on solidarity, to be undermined,” Melkert said.

The unequal position between hospitals and private clinics will be “detrimental to the patients, who should be able to count on a hospital nearby,” he said.

The NVZ wants the cabinet to come up with an emergency plan to ensure fair funding and to stop the unbridled growth of private equity, as well as more clarity about the financial flows at private clinics.