Sports clubs, healthcare trainees and uninsured patients will bear the brunt of the government’s plans to cut €252 million from the health ministry’s budget.

Ministers said they had opted for targeted savings rather than an across-the-board cut to protect subsidies for services such as abortion, vaccinations and screening programmes.

The BOSA fund, which supports sports clubs wanting to invest in sustainable materials, is being cut by 65%.

Other subsidies for sports clubs are also being trimmed by the health ministry, but the climate ministry recently set up a fund to help them switch to green energy.

The ministry is also cutting €82 million from the budget for internships, even though the healthcare sector is currently struggling with personnel shortages.

There will be €40 million less to spend on essential healthcare for people without health insurance, such as unemployed migrants and tourists. And a subsidy to cover the cost of breast implants for transgender women will not be renewed in 2028.

Tough choices

The proposed cuts were outlined in a letter sent to parliament by health minister Fleur Agema and deputy ministers Vicky Maeijer and Vincent Karremans ahead of a debate on the department’s budget later this week.

Karremans told NOS that the ministry had had to make tough choices in order to meet its spending targets.

“People don’t realise that research programmes, abortion clinics and the national vaccination programme are all funded by subsidies,” he said.

“You don’t want someone coming for a colon cancer or a breast cancer screening, or bringing their baby to be vaccinated, and being told: sorry, the money has run out. So that means we’ve had to look to make bigger savings in other areas to reach the €252 million.”