At least 10 different companies and organisations have expressed an interest in taking over the two Dutch hospital groups which went bankrupt at the end of last month, health minister Bruno Bruins said on Monday evening.

Bruins, who had been meeting staff at the affected hospitals in Amsterdam and Lelystad, declined to say if the offers were serious and what parts of the hospitals they were interested in. ‘I am going to study them first, very carefully,’ the minister said.

Earlier on Monday, Cees de Bruin, chairman of the IJsselmeer hospital group’s patients’ council, said that it was likely to be taken over by Cardiologie Centra Nederland, a public private foundation which runs a network of clinics.

CCN published its plans for the IJsselmeer hospitals on its website on Monday.

Meanwhile, investigative website Follow the Money claims that the IJsselmeer’s group’s financial problems were partly due to it buying a specific drug to treat cancer in Germany, even though officials knew the cost was not covered by the Dutch health insurance system.

It says the decision to buy the German drug cost it between €3m and €5m.