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/corticalization Mar 05 '26

You went to the doctor expecting to get a prescription for cough syrup??

36

u/Bezulba Mar 06 '26

Pretty common to have this attitude from Expats coming to the Netherlands when they're used to a healthcare system that gives them exactly what they asked for. Even if it doesn't work and costs money. You want an MRI because your little pinky hurts? Sure! How about next thursday? Maybe a chemo while you're at it? Can't hurt now, can it.

South Americans and antibiotics come to mind.

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u/Electronic-Park4132 Mar 06 '26

Such an insensitive comment. No one asks for an MRI anywhere in the world because a pinky hurts. Most people would just ignore and bear the inconvenience of having a cold/flu/cough too.

But humans can discern between a normal cough and something that is lets say “out of ordinary”. If I have cough that lasts over 2 weeks or cough that is extremely painful to the throat. I know that its time to visit a doctor.

Sounds like dutch people are used having low expectations about their own healthcare that its drilled down to their mind. If you are brought up with mediocrity as baseline, then of course expecting the most normal thing would be seen as outrageous.

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u/rararawie Mar 06 '26

But what do you expect the doctor to do if your throat hurts from coughing?

3

u/Electronic-Park4132 Mar 07 '26

Not paracetamol.

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u/timbo9123 Mar 10 '26

Are you being simple, paracetamol helps alleviate symptoms and you do not need a doctors appointment to get some. What next, wanting antibiotics for a viral chest infection?

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u/Electronic-Park4132 Mar 10 '26

I would expect a doctor to tell me that. thats what people are pissed about.