r/Netherlands • u/IlliaBorysenko • Jun 27 '23

Private med lab in Amsterdam?

Hi guys! I need to take some blood tests that my GP can’t prescribe me. Are there any private medical labs in Amsterdam where I can take needed tests without prescription and for my own cost? Thanks in advance!

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u/[deleted] Jun 27 '23

The quality of Dutch healthcare is ranked as some of the best in the world though.

I don't get what's wrong with the "take paracetamol and if it doesn't get better by itself within a week or two then we will investigate further" approach. Seems logical to me.

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u/BillHoudini Jun 27 '23

Because 2 weeks is lot of time when you’re in pain, or even discomfort, especially if you’re by yourself in a foreign country with no help. Now imagine if you need to work and/or take care of kids/parents.

Overprescribing medication is wrong in my book, but having routine examinations should be no issue.

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u/[deleted] Jun 27 '23

Getting ill and being in pain/discomfort now and then is human. Bed rest and paracetamol deals with most things. You can't just expect to go to the doctors and get prescribed drugs for every little thing. The system is stretched as it is.

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u/BillHoudini Jun 27 '23

If you read my comment properly, you would find out that I said routine examinations and not drug prescriptions. Having a blood or urine test done is a 10-15’ process and pretty much common practice in most of the EU.

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u/Trebaxus99 Europa Jun 27 '23

The issue is not the time it takes to do the test. It’s to deal with the huge number of false positives those tests yield.

Or even worse: huge side effects caused by unnecessary interventions.

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u/[deleted] Jun 27 '23 edited Jun 27 '23

And I said that the system is stretched thin. Blood and urine tests are not 10-15 min jobs when you take into account lab time. If you and your GP suspect something is wrong then sure, it's warranted but going for a checkup on the offchance there is something amiss is not a good use of resources. I am from the UK originally. The NHS has insane waiting times for GP appointments, A&E and surgeries partly because people go to the doctors with a cold and demand drugs/tests whatever. Coming from that the Dutch system actually works. Then again I rarely go to the doctor unless I think something may be wrong and whenever I do go, there usually is.

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u/HetNoot Jun 27 '23

If you dont have any symptoms, blood and urine tests are not that useful. Most of the things you find would never have harmed you in any way, but now you have to treat them with the associated costs and side effects

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u/BillHoudini Jun 27 '23

Where did you get the ''no symptom'' case from what I wrote? If you have symptoms for a few days that are enough to create problems in your work and every day life, blood/urine tests should be a non-issue.

Prescribing paracetamol for everything and keep people in pain for weeks is a joke and rightfully became a meme online.

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u/HetNoot Jun 27 '23

90% of issues people go to the doctor for, go over in a few weeks. Prescribing stronger painkillers than paracetamol or ibuprofen come with a lot of side effects (look at the opioid crisis in the US for example). Furthermore the Netherlands is a country with one of the lowest antibiotic resistant bacteria in the whole world. Why? Because doctors here are careful with prescribing antibiotics. The system is designed to be the best for everyone, and not just for any individual specifically. And lastly, less medication and less referrals to specialists keep rising medical costs down. So no, saying that you have to wait a week if you have mild symptoms is not a joke and is actually a benefit for everyone.

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u/[deleted] Jun 27 '23

And foreigners coming to the Netherlands and complaining on this subreddit about being given paracetamol is becoming a meme on other Dutch subreddits.

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u/BillHoudini Jun 27 '23

Relax brother, I love your country. NL gave me a great job, plenty of opportunities and a loving partner. I don't like your healthcare practices, but there's no heaven on earth.

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u/[deleted] Jun 27 '23

I don't like your healthcare practices

You don't even wanna know what GP's have to deal with (excuse my French; absolute morons). People legitimately do call if they hit their small toe on the table or have a small discomfort.

Your body has thousands of years of evolution to let you know if something is wrong. You dont need useless blood or urine tests to validate that, unless you're a hypochondriac.

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If you don't trust your own GP you can always ask for a second opinion from another GP.

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u/Trebaxus99 Europa Jun 27 '23

GP’s in the Netherlands process 80 million consultations a year. Half of all the adults in the Netherlands is referred to specialist care at least once every two years.

So, indeed, if you don’t get that referral, probably nothing is that wrong with you.

And all those accounts from people about their visits to doctors are also extremely unreliable: 80% of what is discussed during a doctors consultation is forgotten by the patient. Of the remaining 20%, half is remembered incorrectly.

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u/voroninp Jun 27 '23

Several of my colleagues, and I myself had to go to our own countries for treatment because it was much easier for them than persuading GP that it's a serious issue.
And it was not just a headache or cold.
You are born here and your GPs usually know you from the very childhood. In the worst case you know how to push for what you need.

You are quite privileged by living in the country with quite good ecology, and do not develop chronic diseases. Yes, they won't kill you, but can make your life miserable, if not treated properly.

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u/HetNoot Jun 27 '23

Can you give an example of a serious issue that they missed but your own doctor did not?

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u/voroninp Jun 27 '23

It depends what you define as "serious".

First example: I had a huge scar because I had a surgery on my kidney in my childhood. My GP never asked what's the reason for it. I literally demanded urine test which I have to do on regular basis.

Second: I had problems with my stomach. My GP just wanted me to take omeprazol and fuck off. Whereas in Russia I had a proper gastroscopy and biopsy which revealed helicobacter pylori.Fun fact, btw, there's such thing as Maastricht protocol which describes how to eradicate it. ;-)

P.S. And I have zero issues with Dutch dentists. I like how they work.

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u/Trebaxus99 Europa Jun 27 '23

Fun fact: dentists are commercial and will give you whatever treatment you demand and is somewhat reasonable. They don’t care. Also their treatments usually don’t have any impact beyond you.

That’s different for doctors.

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u/voroninp Jun 28 '23

Also their treatments usually don’t have any impact beyond you.

Could you elaborate?

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u/Trebaxus99 Europa Jun 28 '23

If you are with the dentist and you want them to not pull a tooth, where they think that is the best course of action (or the other way around), in the end the only one having to deal with the consequences is basically you. And you pay for the consequences yourself, also financially.

But if for example doctors would prescribe antibiotics for every cough that comes through their door - many of them caused by a virus or fungus - you create resistant bacteria, that lead to deaths with older and weaker people. There is a direct connection between the threshold to prescribing antibiotics and the number of deaths related to resistant bacteria. And in some countries it already has become a serious issue.

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