In or out of the Special Medical Procedures Act: made-to-measure guidance

Some forms of diagnostics or treatment have a special status because they are very complex or expensive, such as organ transplants, or socially and ethically sensitive, such as clinical genetic counselling. Such forms of specialist medical care are covered by the Special Medical Procedures Act (or in Dutch, the “Wbmv”). Under the Wbmv, carrying out those medical procedures is banned unless a permit has been granted.

The Wbmv outlines when procedures should be made subject to its rules. The decision-making for this is always a customised process because the procedures vary so widely. The Health Council’s opinion is that decisions about when a procedure falls under the Wbmv or when it should be removed from the scope of the act would benefit from greater clarity and less ambiguity. To that end, the Council has drawn up an assessment framework and made a series of recommendations about how it should be applied in practice.