Bergman Clinics has delivered 25,000 surgical masks to the depot of the Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport as part of a wider set of measures to limit the impact of the coronavirus. The NPM Capital portfolio company is also engaged in nationwide coordination efforts with both the ministry and the Regional Acute Care Forum (ROAZ) to deploy materials, people, facilities and equipment.
Bergman Clinics has shared the company’s knowledge of available medical supplies, including respirators, with the coordinating bodies, and the necessary equipment is now being delivered to wherever it is needed most. These coordinating bodies can also request the company to supply materials, such as 1,000 surgical gowns to help with medical isolation. In addition, Bergman Clinics staff are keen to help care for coronavirus patients at other care facilities: seventy healthcare providers have already started work at multiple hospitals.
The care facility provider – the largest chain of private clinics for plannable medical care in the Netherlands – is also preparing to return to providing non-urgent care once the current measures are lifted. Bergman Clinics runs more than 50 focus clinics, which usually receive 3,500 referrals from GPs each week; over 3,000 of these weekly referrals have now been postponed. Based on the estimated duration of the government measures, these numbers translate to the postponement of between 10,000 and 15,000 outpatient appointments and more than 5,000 treatments such as cataract operations, hip and knee replacements, colonoscopies and skin treatments, including treatments for skin cancer – and these numbers are expected to rise.
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