Weyts starts a legal fight against Dutch Hospitals in Brussels (Brussels)
© Belga
Flemish minister Ben Weyts is putting his shoulders under a legal fight against Brussels hospitals who fail to help Flemish people in Dutch. “We have already tried enough to put this on the political agenda, but that always falls on a cold stone. That is why we are now changing the gun of shoulder, « says the N-VA minister.
It is an old very: patients from the Flemish Rand who have to appeal to Brussels hospitals for emergencies, but cannot be helped there in their own language. The hospitals must nevertheless be bilingual, but the practice is different. While good and fast communication is especially important in emergency situations.
Minister Weyts refers to a series of cases where it went wrong. « Just ask the parents of Baby Cisse: When their child was in need and eventually died, only French -speaking help came. »
The fact that the situation does not improve after all these years makes the minister pull the emergency brake. Complaints can go to the standing committee for language supervision, but few know that. It ensures that nobody really knows how big the problem is.
Hotline
That is why Weyts now supports the initiative of the Flemish Doctors Association (VAV), the Flemish Volks Movement (VVB) and the Vlaams Komitee for Brussels (VKB) to set up a hotline – www.taalklachten.be – where complainants can go. In the first instance to collect complaints and to get a picture of the situation, but also to take legal steps if necessary.
“Urgent assistance in your own language in your own region should be logic itself. Hospitals that do not comply with the law and who do not respect essential human rights must also be convicted of this, « says Ben Weyts.
In its coalition agreement, the federal government says it also wants to tackle the problem. It is not yet clear how that will happen. (Fem)
