Dutch minister calls on UK to join safe abortion fund after Trump ban

The Dutch government has voiced hope that the UK will join 20 countries to set up a safe abortion fund to fill the gap left by Donald Trump’s “global gag rule”.

Lilianne Ploumen, the Dutch international development minister, is leading an international campaign to raise $ 600m (£480m) to compensate for the Trump administration’s ban on funding for NGOs that provide abortion or information on the procedure to women in developing countries.

Belgium, Denmark and Norway have joined the Netherlands in pledging $ 10m each, while at least 15 other countries are preparing to join the scheme, including Canada, Cape Verde, Estonia, Finland and Luxembourg.

The British government has yet to declare whether it will sign up to the initiative, prompting concerns from British Labour MPs that Trump’s ban could undermine the Department for International Development’s work in promoting the health and education of poor women around the world.

Ploumen said she had contacted the international development secretary, Priti Patel, and her DfID predecessor, Justine Greening, who serves as minister for women and equalities.

The British government and the Netherlands were working closely on international family planning topics, Ploumen said, voicing hope that the UK would join the latest initiative. “It is up to them to voice their support. They are a strong partner in all of this so I do hope they will be able to join.”

“The UK has been a great champion of international cooperation and not only when there were Labour leaders in charge,” she said, praising David Cameron and Theresa May.

The Dutch government wants donors to step in to support family planning programmes.

Campaigners fear the ban will choke off funding for maternal health services and work to combat Aids, malaria and the Zika virus.

Already, 3m unsafe abortions for 15- to 19-year-old girls are carried out each year, the World Health Organisation estimates, leading to lasting health problems and, in some cases, the mother’s death.

The Dutch minister voiced optimism that a coalition of international donors – governments, foundations, companies and individuals – could raise the money, despite tepid responses to international fundraising drives for humanitarian emergencies in Syria and Yemen.

The $ 600m goal was a “very ambitious target” that “signalled the US has been a great partner in the last years”. But she acknowledged that countries were struggling to “make ends meet and it is really unfortunate that the US has now given us another challenge”.

The Dutch government has also approached US foundations. A few individuals have handed over money in envelopes to the Dutch embassies in Washington and London, prompting the creation of the fundraising page at SheDecides.com

NGOs have praised the Dutch government and other countries, but fear the plan may not go far enough..

We are counting on the UK government to continue supporting the family planning cause

Irene Donadio, IPPF

“We are witnessing a new version of the global gag rule,” said Irene Donadio, an expert at the International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF). “It has been enormously expanded and that will affect expenditure on all global health programmes. We know that at a minimum it could be $ 600m a year, but it could be much more.

“We admire and support those governments who want to stand up for women and their dignity, but we are not sure this will fill the gap or how quickly it will fill the gap.”

The IPPF had “always admired the UK’s commitment to family planning”, but “could not help noticing that the UK has not been very vocal [on the global gag],” Donadio added. “We are counting on the UK government to continue supporting the family planning cause.”

A DfID spokeswoman did not address a question about whether the UK would contribute to the international fund, saying: “The UK is a global leader on family planning, sexual and reproductive health and rights. We are continuing to work closely with partners, including governments and civil society, to deliver this, and are stepping up our leadership even further by hosting a major international summit this summer to secure commitments that increase access to family planning services for women and girls in the world’s poorest and most fragile countries.”

Aid experts have voiced concern that Brexit will damage Britain’s international development role, by eroding budgets and prompting an isolationist turn.

But Ploumen voiced optimism that the UK would not shrink from its promises. “Listening to your prime minister, she has voiced the importance of Britain in the world on several occasions, and international solidarity is part and parcel, I would assume, of that relationship with the rest of the world.

“If you are a trading nation, if you are an open economy like the UK and the Netherlands, there is a deep interest in a stable world.”

Dutch minister calls on UK to join safe abortion fund after Trump ban

190,000 ducks destroyed at six Dutch farms after bird flu outbreak

Some 190,000 ducks were destroyed on Saturday at six farms in the Netherlands following an avian flu outbreak, the country’s first cull in response to an epidemic sweeping northern Europe.

Outbreaks of avian flu, primarily the highly pathogenic H5N8 strain, have been reported in Denmark, Finland, Germany and Sweden over the past week.

Dutch authorities did not say what strain of the virus had been discovered at a poultry farm in the village of Biddinghuizen, 70km (43 miles) east of Amsterdam.

The cull was implemented at four other sites owned by the same company and at a sixth farm less than a kilometre from the site of the confirmed outbreak.

Officials said they were checking for bird flu at farms within three kilometres of the original site and imposed a ban on transporting poultry products within a 10km radius.

The world’s second largest agricultural exporter, the Netherlands has more than 100 million hens, pigs, cows and sheep on high-intensity farms. The density makes the animals more vulnerable to disease outbreaks.

Since 1997, 40 million hens, cows, goats, pigs and sheep have been slaughtered to contain outbreaks including swine flu, foot-and-mouth disease and BSE.

190,000 ducks destroyed at six Dutch farms after bird flu outbreak

From Dutch hospital to Afghan clinic: new VR app aims to link 8.5m doctors

Imagine you’re a doctor in Swindon and a patient with a chewing tobacco habit turns up with unusual tongue lesions. What if you could, at the press of a few buttons, locate and get instant advice from the Mumbai-based world expert on cancers related to chewing tobacco?

This is the vision for a new app which aims to transform the way in which 8.5 million doctors around the world share their knowledge and skills.

MDLinking – an expert directory, instant messaging service and video source – began trialling a beta version for iPhones in May this year and aims to launch its full Apple and Android versions before 2017.

The Dutch startup, which has €2.5m of seed funding, has several hundred testers in the Netherlands, 4,000 registered doctors so far and is in talks with organisations including Médecins Sans Frontièresand the Aga Khan Development Network (AKDN) about using its free software.

“The original idea was that if doctors worldwide connect with each other and share knowledge, healthcare will improve on a global level” says Alec Behrens, co-founder of Booking.com and founding partner of MDLinking.

Instant messaging

Many doctors are already using instant messaging tools to discuss patient cases. A 2015 survey found more than 30% of doctors surveyed said they were sending patient related information over services such as WhatsApp.

Vascular surgeon Hans Flu, co-founder of MDLinking, came up with the idea for the secure healthcare network when he realised just how much his colleagues were using WhatsApp. He had privacy concerns over the app and worried about its plans to share account information with parent company Facebook.

Ultimately, however, Flu wants to find a solution to what he sees as the big problem in the medical world: communication. “If you communicate badly, the patient’s going to suffer, and this is a key element that everyone can improve. This is a tool developed by medical doctors, for medical doctors, that is free.”

As well as being a directory and secure instant messaging tool (it only accepts vetted medical professionals), the start-up is using virtual reality technology to record operations from multiple viewpoints, to form an interactive teaching tool – especially for countries where operating theatres are scarce.

Dr Hans Flu, co-founder of MDLinking Photograph: Hans Flu

Gijs Walraven, director for health at AKDN – which operates a non-profit, private healthcare system in developing world communities – is interested in collaborating with the MDLinking tool.

“AKDN’s work in health is mainly in sub-Saharan Africa, central and south Asia,” he says. “In these countries, there are fewer medical doctors and they have much more limited opportunities to consult with colleagues on difficult cases as well as to [access] education. New ways to interact at a distance and in a secure manner could play a very important role to improve this.

“Learning new operating techniques and how to better diagnose using the innovative video techniques that MDLinking is developing could be a real breakthrough.” And it works both ways, he says: “Healthcare providers in rural settings in Afghanistan have knowledge and skills that could be beneficial to health practitioners in London.”

Teaching by virtual reality

Dr Gijs van Acker, a surgeon at Medisch Centrum Haaglanden hospital in the Netherlands, first created teaching videos for his vascular surgery website a decade ago. “One of my residents was Hans Flu, and when he started MDLinking I said, ‘You need something that’s educational’. We wanted to make something more intuitive than 2D films,” he says.

They came up with virtual reality combined with the view-selection interface, allowing users to flick to different sections of the operation. Traditional teaching methods can’t compete, according to van Acker, who says that dead body tissue loses its colour, so isn’t the same teaching experience, while students observing actual operations are often distracted by nerves.

He has recorded four 3D operations for MDLinking so far and – thanks to a partnership providing Samsung equipment – these are viewable via mobiles and virtual reality headsets.

As the app is free, the business plans to raise revenue by broadcasting sponsored medical conference content and acting as a recruitment site for international medical placements. It wants to establish video centres in different places around the world using tools and facilities available there – for example, treating appendicitis in remote Africa.

Kiran Jobanputra, deputy head of the Manson Unit at Médecins Sans Frontières in London, says the organisation is looking into MDLinking as it develops a medical IT strategy. “Until something is piloted and evaluated, it is hard to say, but I do see potential in this app,” he says. “Having been a field doctor, I came up against huge difficulty getting access to information, particularly relevant technical advice.”

He says MSF medical experts at the London HQ and its telemedicine platform have time, context and connectivity limitations. “MSF clinicians are using WhatsApp groups of colleagues to get rapid, relevant advice – although it’s not an official MSF tool, and some people in the organisation might not agree with it,” he says. “That MDLinking ‘LinkedIn’ function to join or create a new group of people happy to give their opinion, with regional experience, has huge potential.

“I suspect the educational content will still require connectivity of too high bandwidth. We’re not testing MDLinking at the moment but if it comes on to Android, which is the main smartphone operating system in the contexts we work in, we probably will.

“The sharing economy isn’t new – in our medical studies we are taught ‘see one, do one, teach one’ – but barriers to sharing information are getting lower.”

From Dutch hospital to Afghan clinic: new VR app aims to link 8.5m doctors

From a German doctor to a Dutch nurse: Europeans playing a vital role in the NHS

Some 57,000 Europeans are employed by the NHS, and their position has looked increasingly uncertain since Britain voted to leave the EU. It’s an issue highlighted by the Institute of Public Policy Research, with the thinktank warning that the health service could collapse if those European workers left the UK. Chris Murray, who compiled the report, said: “It is critical to public health that these workers do not seek jobs elsewhere. All EU nationals who work for the NHS, or as locums in the NHS system, should be eligible to apply for British citizenship.”

So, how do European nationals working for our health service feel post-Brexit? Six of them explain.

Spanish pharmacist

^{Ricardo, 38, Bournemouth: ‘I am not sure how the NHS will cope without Europeans’}
After Brexit, me and my wife started thinking of places to go: Spain, Scotland, Canada. My wife is Scottish and works in academia, so we need to find somewhere we could both work. I feel betrayed by the referendum vote, and in some ways it looks like we are going to be allowed to stay for as long as we are useful. This country has decided to shut its doors to globalisation – despite the fact that it’s here to stay.

In my department, more than 50% of the pharmacists come from the EU

Ricardo

I know not everyone voted for Britain to leave the EU because of immigration, but it played a huge part for a lot of people. It makes me feel unwelcome, but I like my life here: I have a great job and met my wife in Britain. My future here now seems very uncertain, which is a shame because Europeans are very important to the NHS. Just to give you an example: in my department more than 50% of the pharmacists come from the EU. Likewise, most hospitals have hired (or are hiring) nurses from Europe. I am not sure how the NHS will cope without us.

Nurse from the Netherlands

^{Helena, 52, Wales: ‘The way I feel now I am not sure I would even accept British citizenship’}
It has now been around two months since Brexit. At the moment I still feel like I am going through the five stages of grief: denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance. Why should I have to apply for dual nationality and pay thousands to do so? I feel as though the goal posts have been shifted and I can no longer remain here on the same terms on which I arrived from the Netherlands in 1995. To be honest, the way I feel now I am not sure I would even accept British citizenship if offered it. I do not really feel welcome in the UK any more, and I am not sure if I will stay or go.

Shortly after the referendum result was announced my husband got a letter from the university where he works to say they would support EU-citizen-staff and family members who wanted to get permanent citizenship. I have not yet heard anything from my employer, despite being an NHS nurse for more than 14 years. Maybe EU nationals are not important, but this is surprising given the high number who work here. I know that without us the NHS would be unsustainable. There is no budget, investments and slack in the NHS to grow, develop and modernise. A few weeks ago, when I was back in the Netherlands, I had to accompany a family member to hospital and the healthcare service was so much better. It feels tempting to go back home.

Quality improvement officer from Germany
_{Chuck, 52, London: ‘With 20 years of experience in the NHS, I have a lot to offer this country’}

With 30 years of healthcare experience (20 of it in the NHS) I have a lot to offer this country. But I am one of many. We have nurses, doctors and therapists from all countries. Clinical innovation, for example, seems to be supported by high numbers of academic clinicians from Greece, Spain and Italy.

Even if we are being made to feel welcome at work, I no longer feel that welcome on on the streets

David

I am a German expat and have been living in Britain for the past two decades because I like the country, the people, the culture and the NHS. NHS executives have been very supportive and sent messages saying that European colleagues are valued, needed and welcome here. However, the government’s position is not clear, and my wife and I worry about changes in the public mood. Even if we are being made to feel welcome at work, we no longer feel that welcome on the streets. Because of this, we are thinking about leaving Britain. The referendum was the most painful reminder that I don’t have a vote in the country I live in and contribute to.

Doctor from Germany

^{Stephanie, 42, Portsmouth: ‘The UK can’t afford to loose more committed staff members’}

I am in the process of applying for a permanent residency card, which I require if I want to apply for naturalisation (the legal act by which a non-citizen in a country may acquire citizenship). However, currently the German government only allows dual citizenship if the other country is an EU country, and I don’t want to give up my German passport – hopefully I can sort it out before Article 50 is triggered. The whole process is so complex and expensive, however, almost as though it’s designed to put people off. I am a German GP and married to a British citizen. My son already has dual nationality and I feel this is my only option.

Although my primary degree is from a German university, I did my postgraduate and general practice training in the UK. There is a shortage of GPs at the moment, and Jeremy Hunt’s plan was to recruit 5,000 from abroad to solve the crisis. It is therefore vital that EU nationals working here as doctors are encouraged to stay. The UK can’t afford to lose more committed staff members.

Cardiologist from Austria

^{Daniel, 43, Surrey: ‘I feel upset that some of the people I treat want me out of the country’}

I am already looking for positions in other European countries. Despite the fact that I love my job, my colleagues and my patients, I do not feel that this is the place for my children to grow up. Their opportunities have been taken from them, and it only looks like things will get worse.

EU nationals are critical for the NHS. I come from Austria, and many of my fellow doctors come from all over Europe. We rely on nurses from across the EU, who are all highly qualified and motivated to do their work. The UK alone simply does not have enough trained staff to keep up with the needs of its citizens, and there are too few in training programmes. The staffing problems will just get worse.

I feel upset to know that some of the people I treat want me out of “their” country. I feel that they probably call me all sorts of names behind my back. We Europeans should all work together towards a brighter future for the whole world.

Surgeon from Austria
_{Peter, 35, Liverpool: ‘I will serve the NHS as long as I can’}

My plans, post-Brexit, are to continue serving the people of the UK via the NHS as long as the government allows me to. I would not take British citizenship now, however, if offered it. I was eligible for British citizenship 10 years ago, but I have no interest in giving up my own EU citizenship, especially after the referendum. I would not want to limit my access and rights of free movement in the EU. Working conditions in the NHS are in a steady decline, and many EU countries are opening their arms to fully trained doctors and nurses.

• Some names have been changed
  

From a German doctor to a Dutch nurse: Europeans playing a vital role in the NHS

A Dutch Oven: Which One is the Greatest And Healthy Choice?

A Dutch Oven: Which One is the Greatest And Healthy Choice?

Dutch Investigation Finds Significant Flaws In Influential New England Journal Of Medication Examine

Erasmus Health care Center says it has wrapped up its investigation of Don Poldermans, the disgraced cardiology researcher who was fired for study misconduct. The full extent of the misconduct has by no means been acknowledged, and from an examination of the Erasmus report it appears very likely that it never ever will be known.

One key finding– however downplayed in the health-related center’s press release– is that the most prestigious and influential publication from the Poldermans’ group, the 1999 publication of the Reduce 1 research in the New England Journal of Medication– appears to be riddled with significant troubles.

The integrity of the Decrease 1 review is particularly important simply because it supplied much of the basis for European tips with regards to the use of beta blockers in the course of noncardiac surgery. One research group estimated that this guideline could potentially have been accountable for as a lot of as 800,000 deaths in Europe over 5 many years. (Up to date European and US guidelines will be launched shortly.

The Dutch investigators located a variety of crucial discrepancies among the trial perform and the written protocol found in the archive of the Medical Ethics Committee. Poldermans informed the investigators that there was an updated version of the protocol but this document has not been located.

In 1 crucial discrepancy, the NEJM report states that adverse occasions had been evaluated by an adverse occasions committee consisting of 2 cardiologists, but the two cardiologists informed the investigators that they had no awareness that their names have been listed in the publication. One particular stated he remembered that Poldermans had asked him to judge some ECGs and the other had no recollection of being involved in the review in any way. Poldermans advised the committee that the cardiologists had seen the information for all individuals in the study.

Even a lot more troubling are the discrepancies involving the trial’s security committee. The part of this committee is especially essential simply because the trial was stopped early right after the initial interim examination. The NEJM paper states that the determination to stop the trial was created by the safety committee. But the two members of this committee informed the investigation that they had no recollection of being on the safety committee or of analyzing the study data. One particular member explained that he had offered some suggestions to Poldermans by telephone about “stopping guidelines.” Poldermans advised the investigators that, contrary to the published report, the choice to quit the trial had been created by “the steering committee.”

Perhaps remarkably, the report does not conclude that the trial is invalid. As an alternative, it concludes that doubts about the scientific integrity can neither be confirmed nor denied.

The report consists of a cursory assessment of Poldermans’ 495 publications, in some instances reviewing only the abstracts and not the full texts of the papers. The investigators attempted to determine whether or not the reported studies really occurred, whether the investigators received appropriate approval to complete the research, and regardless of whether informed consent was obtained. The investigation was hampered by a lack of documentation and missing records.

An English translation of the Dutch report has been promised. This write-up was written with Google Translate and the kind assistance of a native Dutch speaker. But it looks clear that the report provides little reassurance that huge-scale scientific misconduct did not consider location throughout Poldermans’ reign as a major cardiovascular researcher. But the cautious investigators get a much more benign see, going only so far as to say that it is impossible to conclude that big-scale scientific misconduct and fraud did not take place.

Medicine faculty of the Erasmus MC, taken in the afternoon (Photograph credit score: Wikipedia)

Dutch Investigation Finds Significant Flaws In Influential New England Journal Of Medication Examine

Kitchen Throwdown: Dutch Split Pea Vs. "Dutch" Lentil Soup

Note: This is the 1st in a weekly series. Find out more here.

Round 1: Politiek Correcte Dutch Red Lentil Soup vs. Dutch Pea Soup aka Erwtensoep aka Snert

New York was entombed in the ice of a half dozen consecutive snowfalls on a recent February afternoon picked for the 1st in a series of cook-offs to which I’d challenged blogger and celebrity chef top quality-inspector Eddie McNamara.

It was a day for thick soup.

Ed went with a “Dutch” red lentil soup – so-referred to as because of his use of smoked gouda and tempeh, Indonesia’s gift to the planet of desperate protein-substitute-hunting hippies who hold the versatility of the soy bean second in regard only to hemp. It was the two a meal and a meditation on the excesses of Dutch imperialism. With kale, because vegetarians.

‘Dutch’ lentil soup vs. classic Dutch pea soup, or snert. Photo: John Giuffo

Given that Eddie is representing for lacto-ovos (sorry vegans and purists – ain’t no winning cooking battles without having butter or cheese), plenty of carrots, yams, celery, and onion had been added to what he would later blend into a single damn fine, properly-spiced paste that would be welcome in the bowls of each vegetarians steeling themselves for the excesses of polar vortexes and the Styrofoam cups on the plastic lunch trays of your a lot more adventurous nursing residence residents. No massive pieces for the attorneys to worry about hell, depart your teeth in the Efferdent. Of course, nursing residence kitchen managers might want to skip the kale chips and toasted almonds, to stay away from choking and possessing to clarify continuously what kale is to previous folks.

But the place Ed’s flawlessly-seasoned vibrant-orange soylent was a small too keen to please, my Dutch pea soup was much more difficult – surely in the coronary sense. In an energy to remain near to the much more ambitious versions of the authentic, I utilised 3 sorts of pork: pancetta, pork chops, and smoked kielbasa – a essential go-to since the Gelderse rookworst – Dutch smoked sausage from Gelderland – is relatively difficult to come by in these parts.

Get in touch with it Erwtensoep, get in touch with it snert…actually, get in touch with it snert, since it is both way much more fun-sounding and easier to pronounce – both way, it is one thing near to a nationwide dish in the Netherlands – a nation that is decidedly not identified for its culinary innovations. Classic Dutch cooking entails a good deal of stews and variations on the fried croquette.

Their pea soup, on the other hand, is a dish they can be proud of. It’s served all over the place in the colder months, and even occasionally canalside at pop-up stands when the canals freeze more than and absolutely everyone straps on their ice skates. It is frequently accompanied by a thin slice of dark rye bread or pumpernickel, with a wafer of smoked bacon on prime.

Grab your largest stock pot, and commence with a regular sixteen oz. bundle of green split peas, boiled as instructed but swapping out half the water for beef stock.

Now that the peas are going, throw a couple tablespoons of butter into a saucepan and add two diced onions, two diced garlic cloves, and a sliced leek – those disks will quickly turn into strips and then melt into the soup. After the onions and leek soften, add about a dozen sliced carrots, and half a dozen sliced celery stalks. Simmer on reduced for about five minutes, stir constantly, due to the fact that is butter. Season with kosher salt, freshly-ground pepper, and smoked Spanish paprika to taste. I use a handful of teaspoons of every single, depending on mood – but it’s hard to use also significantly smoked paprika. I’m convinced it does half the lifting in this soup.

Whilst that’s going, dice a pound of pancetta and two pork chops, toss a tablespoon of butter into a frying pan, and add the diced pork. Season with more smoked Spanish paprika. You heard that right. Also kosher or sea salt, and fresh pepper.

Dutch pea soup is normally served dark rye or pumpernickel, and hunk of the smoked sausage you’ve sliced into the soup itself. Photo: John Giuffo

Grab the simmering vegetables and scoop every little thing into the stock pot. Back to the meat: Sear on medium higher for a couple of minutes right up until the chops start off to char, then scoop the contents of the whole pan into your stock pot – all that delightful rendered pork juice requirements to cook into people peas.

Put the pan right back on a higher heat and brown the smoked kielbasa, three minutes or so on each side or till brown. Consider it off the heat and slice into oval pieces, then add the slices to the soup.

Pretty quickly, the peas will start to break down and the soup will thicken. Stir often on a medium reduced flame. The goal with Dutch pea soup is to be ready to stick your spoon into the center of the bowl and have it stand straight up. Maintain a cup or two of added stock helpful, nonetheless – these peas can get thick, and you want to be able to preserve the soup boiling so that the pancetta virtually melts into the peas.

Kitchen Throwdown: Dutch Split Pea Vs. "Dutch" Lentil Soup

Dutch scheme aims to reintegrate alcoholics by giving them beer

The males streaming in and out of a modest clubhouse in east Amsterdam could almost be construction staff at the end of a challenging day, taking off their orange reflective vests and cracking jokes as they suck down a couple of Heinekens, waiting for their shell out cheques.

But it truly is only noon, the men are alcoholics and the beers themselves are the pay out cheque.

In a pilot project that has drawn consideration in the Netherlands and around the globe, the city has teamed up with a charity in the hope of enhancing the neighbourhood and possibly the lives of the alcoholics – not by attempting to remedy them, but by offering to fund their drinking outright.

Participants are offered beer in exchange for light perform collecting litter, consuming a decent meal and sticking to their schedule.

“For a whole lot of politicians it was really hard to accept: ‘So you are giving alcohol?’” the Amsterdam East district mayor, Fatima Elatik, said. “No, I am providing people a sense of standpoint, even a sense of belonging. A sense of feeling that they are Ok and that we need them and that we validate them and we never ostracise our people, due to the fact these are folks that reside in our district.”

In practice, the two groups of ten males have to present up at 9am 3 days a week. They start off off with two beers, function a morning shift, consume lunch, get two much more beers, and then do an afternoon shift ahead of a final beer. Sometimes there is a bonus beer. The complete every day shell out package comes to €19 (£16), in beer, tobacco, a meal and €10 money. Participants say a whole lot of that funds also goes in direction of beer.

For years, a group of around 50 rowdy, ageing alcoholics had plagued a park in east Amsterdam, annoying other park-goers with noise, litter and occasional harassment.

The city had experimented with a number of hard solutions, including adding police patrols and temporarily banning alcohol in the park outright, such as for household barbecues and picnics. Elatik explained the city was investing €1m a year on various prevention, therapy and policing programmes to deal with the dilemma, and nobody was satisfied.

Meanwhile, the modest nonprofit Rainbow Group Foundation and its predecessors had been experimenting with ways to get support for alcoholics and drug addicts in the region.

Floor van Bakkum of the Jellinek clinic, 1 of the city’s ideal-acknowledged addiction remedy clinics, said her organisation had a really distinct strategy to treating alcoholism. She has a number of reservations about the Rainbow programme, but approves of it in basic.

She explained a “harm-reduction technique” created sense only when there was no real hope an alcoholic could be cured.

“The Rainbow group tries to make it as easy as achievable [for alcoholics] to reside their lives and that they make as minor as achievable nuisances to the atmosphere they are living in,” she said. “I believe it is great that they are performing this.”

The idea was just that troublemakers may well consume significantly less and cause less trouble if they could be lured away from their park benches with the guarantee of cost-free booze. The Rainbow leader, Gerrie Holterman, explained beer was the obvious choice, since it was easier to regulate consumption. Rainbow still harbours the ambition to remedy alcoholics and move them back to mainstream society and sees the perform-for-beer programme as a 1st step.

“I think now that we are only productive when we get them to drink much less for the duration of the day and give them some thing to believe about – what they want to do with their lives,” Holterman mentioned. “This is a begin to go in the direction of other projects and perhaps one more variety of work.”

She conceded there had only been one person so far who had moved from the programme to standard lifestyle. Several participants have located the guidelines also demanding and dropped out. But she explained nuisance in the park had been reduced, neighbours had been happy and there was a waiting record of candidates who needed to participate.

Elatik stated she could not quantify the price of the programme. Its spending budget comes partly from donations to Rainbow, partly from city funds, but it is less than €100,000.

The foreman of one group participating in the scheme, Fred Schiphorst, takes his job significantly. He wears a suit and tie under his reflective vest. He said he was handled with more respect in the neighbourhood, but admitted his off-the-job consuming was nonetheless up and down.

One more participant, Karel Slinger, 50, stated his lifestyle has not been transformed. He is nevertheless an alcoholic, but he mentioned on the complete items had transformed for the much better.

“Yes, of course, in the park it is wonderful weather and you just drink a whole lot of beer,” he said of his outdated existence. “Now you come here and you are occupied and you have one thing to do. I cannot just sit nonetheless. I want anything to do.”

Dutch scheme aims to reintegrate alcoholics by giving them beer