Crossing the political barrier, Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte on Friday appointed opposition minister Martin van Rijn, former Labour party health secretary, as the Minister for Medical Care. While Rutte is a member of the People’s Party for Freedom and Democracy, van Rijn is a member of the Labour Party. Explaining the move, Rutte tweeted that it was because of van Rijn’s years of experience in the Health ministry. Rijn was a former chairman of the Reinier-Haga hpospital system which manages eight hospitals.
“He has years of experience in healthcare and knows the Ministry well,” Mark Rutte said on Twitter. Van Rijn takes over from Bruno Bruins, who resigned after collapsing from exhaustion during a parliamentary debate on Wednesday.
The decision has received widespread praise across Dutch politics. Labour party leader Lodewijk Asscher tweeted his praise for “everyone who steps forward during this difficult time”. “If there is a national health crisis, you must help where you can”.
Pieter Heerma, chairperson of the CDA party, said van Rijn was a “very strong choice” for the role. “In this crisis we need authority, peace and experience. He is the right person for that.”
Michiel van Hulten, the Director of Transparency International EU, also tweeted that it was “great to see PM Rutte’s government appointing the best person for the job, without regard to political affiliation”. Meanwhile, the Dutch Ambassador to Lebanon added that he was “proud to see that handling the Corona crisis is more important than party politics” in the Netherlands.
The Netherlands is battling a rapidly growing virus outbreak, with 3,631 cases and 136 deaths as of Sunday. Testing in the country has been limited as officials are only carrying out 1,000 tests a day—forcing the country to prioritise testing healthcare workers, the elderly and others who are most vulnerable to the virus. The country has adopted a mixed approach to tackling the virus: Embracing social distancing but also attempting to build group immunity over the long-term.
