Doctors’ association demands more say in corona policy with protest Inland

Representatives of BVAS and the French-speaking association ABSyM received their mail before Vandenbroucke’s cabinet in the Wetstraat on Tuesday afternoon. BVAS denounces the fact that there has been no structural consultation between general practitioners and the government since the start of the corona pandemic. “From testing policy to contact tracing to the entire organization of the vaccination campaign, everything was decided over the heads of the doctors.”

During the latest fourth wave, GPs were overloaded with administrative tasks because, among other things, contact tracing no longer worked as promised. The last straw for the association is now that pharmacists are also allowed to administer corona vaccines. “Vaccination is one of the core tasks of preventive medicine. We believe that this should belong to the doctors and not to the pharmacists,” says spokeswoman Sylvie Geurts.

BVAS therefore called on the doctors to participate in an online protest. On the website www.geenstem.be, doctors could post a selfie – including a mouth mask with the inscription #geenstem – and leave a message.

Nearly 5,000 doctors took part in the campaign. A BVAS delegation went to Brussels on Tuesday with the photos and displayed a selection of photos and messages on a large LED screen. “I’m tired of my profession, we are constantly in the line of fire but get no respect,” it sounds displeased. “Finally stop administrative Kafka and let us be doctors!”

After the grievances had been read, the demonstration continued its journey to the cabinet of Prime Minister Alexander De Croo (Open Vld), the FPS Public Health, and finally returned to the cabinet of Vandenbroucke.
“We hope that the minister has heard us and will do something about the red tape, so that we can practice our profession again,” says Geurts.