Three members of a gang involved in selling fake healthcare diplomas have been arrested, current affairs show Nieuwsuur reported on Wednesday evening.
It is the first time people have been arrested for faking healthcare qualifications. They are accused of membership of a criminal organisation, forgery and fraud.
The public prosecution office said last year that some 800 to 1,200 unqualified staff were working for healthcare companies via the certificates, putting vulnerable patients at risk.
The Netherlands has thousands of small companies offering care services, ranging from community nursing operations to psychiatric services, youth coaching, and residential care.
The gang concentrated on so-called EVC certificates based on work experience and which can then be translated into diplomas. The EVC certificates could be bought for a couple of hundred euros online, enabling anyone, including drug dealers and thieves, to work in healthcare.
The youth healthcare inspectorate IGJ told Nieuwsuur it had recorded a “worrying increase” in the number of agencies issuing EVC certificates, which doubled from 21 in 2021 to 54 at the end of last year. Client safety is at stake, the inspectorate said.
There has been a string of revelations in recent years about fraud within the healthcare system, particularly with fake diplomas.
Last year, some 50 care workers, whose qualifications were not in order, were scrapped from the official register SKJ. They were employed by healthcare jobs agencies which failed to check up on staff qualifications.
In March RTL Nieuws said a major investigation by health ministry inspectors haduncovered a jobs agency which employed over 60 care workers who had fake qualifications or no documents at all.
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