It will be ‘very difficult’ to meet the cabinet’s pledge to boost the number of healthcare workers by 12,000 by 2015, health minister Edith Schippers told RTLZ news on Wednesday.

‘There is no tin of nurses or carers that you can just open,’ Schippers said. ‘You have to train them.’
The commitment to employ 12,000 new care workers was made in the coalition agreement, largely at the behest of Geert Wilders’ PVV.
Schippers also said the health ministry will overspend its budget this year by a ‘considerable’ amount. The minister declined to tell the news channel by how much but said the general public and healthcare institutions will have to deal with the results.
The new government’s pledge to employ 3,000 new police officers – also a gesture to the PVV – has already been revealed to be an accounting trick.