There is a shortage of ophthalmologists in the Maxima Medical Centre. Hence the hospitals in Velhoven and Eindhoven will no longer offer care to new eye patients for the time being.
The decision means that the hospital will no longer provide care to patients who are currently knocking on the door of the Ophthalmology Outpatient Clinic. Only patients already under treatment will be helped.
‘Difficult decision’
“From a medical perspective, we have no choice but to take this difficult decision. This is a situation that concerns us as healthcare providers. Ideally, of course, we would like to be able to offer care to every patient, but the difficult circumstances force us to scale down,” the hospital informs.
There has been a shortage of ophthalmologists at MMC for some time. The hospital has been trying to hire new ophthalmologists. Cooperation was also sought with other institutions. Although the situation seemed to be improving at the end of last year, it is not yet successful in having enough ophthalmologists in-house. The MMC does not think it can solve the situation easily either, as there is a national shortage.
Waiting list
“At the moment, we no longer consider it medically responsible to leave some of our patients on the waiting list any longer. We have therefore had to decide to remove these patients from our waiting list,” the hospital writes.
Patients concerned will be personally notified by the hospital by 1 April. Patients who do not receive a letter will remain on the waiting list for an appointment or treatment in Eindhoven or Veldhoven.
Source: Studio040
Translated by: Chaitali Sengupta
