This month, medical students are campaigning for a better internship allowance for interns. They ask doctors to support them with various statements of support.
Petition
The action, scheduled for March 21, is an initiative of DeMedicinestudent and the LAD (National Association of Doctors in Employment). On that day, the students want to present a petition to the Dutch Association of Hospitals (NVZ), in which they argue for better compensation than the 100 euros monthly that medical students have been receiving for the past three years. On that day, The Medical Student also hopes to be able to show as many videos or photos as possible on social media of medical students, doctors and others involved who show their support by slapping their hands on that photo or video, under the motto ‘join hands together’. for the intern’.
Collective bargaining
The Medical Student (DG) believes that all interns should receive a ‘decent allowance’. DG chairman Pim den Boon then thinks of the 400 euros that interns who do internships in care for the disabled receive monthly, an amount that is also included in the hospital collective labor agreement for, for example, nurse or lab technician internships, he explains. According to him, this has been advocated in the difficult negotiations for a new hospital collective agreement, but so far without the desired result.
Three arguments
According to Den Boon, there are three arguments that justify better compensation for co-workers. ‘Co-assistants, who don’t have time for a part-time job because of their long weeks, have to borrow extra and that leads to financial worries. Furthermore, it is often argued that co’s do not contribute to production. But they do to some extent.’ He points to the decision of the VWS minister in corona times to allow internships to continue after an initial stoppage, ‘because it was necessary to keep the care running’. And Den Boon’s third argument is that co-workers in disabled care receive a monthly internship allowance of 400 euros, ‘proof that it is possible’. Den Boon hopes for ‘broad support’ for the petition and the social media campaign. “We hear that many doctors agree.”
58 cents an hour
University magazine Ad Valvas recently calculated that the usual expense allowance for interns since 2020 amounts to an hourly wage of 58 cents.
