Health minister Edith Schippers told parliament on Tuesday that hospitals may not refuse to publish their death rates on their websites.

Publishing death rates was introduced on March 1 but 14 hospitals have not yet complied. Some, such as the Erasmus university hospital, are refusing to do so because they say the figures will not allow for the fair comparison of death rates in different hospitals because they do not take the difference in patients into account.

Others say the method of calculating death rates is too complex.

Schippers told parliament during questions that the method of calculation was developed by the hospitals themselves based on an international standard.

‘Of course it is possible for hospitals to add an explanation if, for instance, their death rate is too high,’ she told parliament.

She also said the national healthcare association NZa has several means at its disposal to deal with hospitals that refuse to publish. These range from a warning to a gradually increasing series of fines, Nos television reports.