From overcrowded intensive care units to tough measures to keep healthcare afloat: the third week of the public hearings of the parliamentary corona inquiry committee revolves around the impact of the pandemic on healthcare. The committee holds hearings on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.
Chairman of the intensive care associationDiederik Gommers
On Monday morning, Diederik Gommers, professor and head of the ICU department at Erasmus MC, will kick off the event. Gommers became “a well-known and popular Dutchman” during the pandemic, he reports personal page from the university hospital.
With many appearances in talk shows and interviews, the Rotterdam IC head indeed became one of the faces of the corona crisis. “So much was attributed to me. Diederik had become such an institution,” he previously said to NRC. “Every scrap of me was news.”
Gommers, member of the Outbreak Management Team (OMT) and chairman of the intensive care association, regularly spoke with Prime Minister Mark Rutte and Minister of Health Hugo de Jonge.
His advice was primarily guided by the capacity in intensive care units. The Netherlands had too few IC beds and IC nurses, was his mantra. If the ICUs were in danger of filling up, infections had to be reduced, even if that meant tough measures from a social and economic perspective.
Gommers also spoke critically about the Dutch corona approach, focusing in particular on the testing policy and the poor national patient distribution. He also urged the population to adhere to the curfew and visiting rules.
head of Infectious Disease Modeling RIVMJacco Wallinga
In the afternoon, the committee will hear from Professor Jacco Wallinga, former head of the Infectious Disease Modeling department of the National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM). He was considered the institute’s accountant: his models and the resulting forecasts about infections, hospital admissions and ICU occupancy played a major role in the political decisions on corona measures.
The prominent role of the RIVM models also led to discussion during the pandemic. Scientists argued that the Netherlands had become too dependent on one modeling center. They argued for more openness about the assumptions behind the forecasts and for alternative models.
Wallinga, currently professor by special appointment of medical statistics of infectious diseases at LUMC, defended the RIVM’s working method. He said he had to consult extensively with international colleagues and emphasized that legislation and regulations limited the publication of the RIVM models.
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