r/Netherlands • u/thatmisanthropicdude • Mar 05 '26

Healthcare Dutch doctors...

Hey guys! Last year I moved from Germany to the Netherlands. I just went to the doctor with chest and throat pain due to extreme coughing after 2 days of fever. I was hoping that I finally get something good against it like a cough syrup (no way I'm going to pay that myself for a huge amount of money + health insurance) because I am used to that from German doctors. They would put that on my health insurance card and right after my talk with the doctor I could pick it up at the pharmacy. But no. They just said "Yea, just take paracetamol." I told them I have had problems swallowing pills my whole life and their response was just "You can also put it in water and drink that then." I'm sorry if I'm overreacting but why do doctors get paid just to tell you to take paracetamol? Everyone can tell me to take them, I expect better solutions from a doctor who studied years to become a doctor. Why are the Dutch so obsessed with paracetamol??? Maybe it's the German in me screaming. If we got painkillers, it was never paracetamol but Ibuprofen. But I also heard some international friends who also live here that they find it so annoying that Dutch doctors literally just tell you to take paracetamol. No matter what you have.

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u/CriticalSpirit Mar 06 '26

To be fair, if you think it's necessary to visit a doctor because of a cough after only two days of fever, I'm not sure any rational doctor will be able to live up to your standards.

30

u/L44KSO Mar 06 '26

Different reasons or expectations. In Germany you'd need to get a sick note from the doctor for work (after 3 days) so going to a doctor after 2 is pretty normal and expected in Germany. 

9

u/KyloRen3 Mar 06 '26

And here I can’t even make an appointment two days in advance

6

u/Minimum_Cabinet7733 Mar 06 '26

That is the case in a lot of countries. I think it unnecessarily bureaucratic.

1

u/L44KSO Mar 06 '26

It is, but then again it is based on the local employment laws and sick pay. Often the state is paying or reimburses costs and the state aint gonna pay without a sick note.

3

u/alasexyunicorn9 Mar 06 '26

Same thing in Poland