NEWS & DEVELOPMENTS

HPV Vaccination – Protecting Against Human Papillomavirus

What is HPV?
Human Papillomavirus (HPV) is a very common virus that can be spread through intimate skin-to-skin contact. Certain types of HPV can cause serious health issues, including cervical cancer, other genital cancers, and head and neck cancers. Some types can also lead to genital warts.

Why Get Vaccinated?
HPV vaccination is a safe and effective way to protect yourself against the most harmful types of the virus. It is most effective when given before exposure to HPV, but it can still offer benefits for older teens and adults who have not yet been vaccinated.

We Prescribe Gardasil 9

At IHCH, we offer the Gardasil 9 vaccine, which provides protection against 9 different types of HPV—covering both high-risk types that can cause cancer and low-risk types that cause genital warts.

Gardasil 9 is available for:

• Adolescents and young adults who missed their vaccination through the national program

• Adults who wish to reduce their risk of HPV-related diseases

• Anyone at higher risk or with specific medical concerns

How to Get Vaccinated

You can book an appointment for the HPV vaccine through our Vaccination & Travel Health Clinic. Our healthcare professionals will provide advice based on your age, medical history, and risk factors.

To all our valued clients,

Please be informed of the updated opening hours of the Pharmacy. We are open from Monday to Friday, 08:00–13:00 and 14:00–18:00.

This is a temporary adjustment to our service hours and will remain in effect until further notice.

Thank you for your understanding.

IHCH Pharmacy Team

Important Notice Regarding Discontinuance of Direct Billing Agreement for Medical Specialist Care – ONVZ

As of 01 January 2025, we will no longer be offering direct billing for claims to ONVZ for medical specialist invoices. As a result, you will receive the invoice for specialist consultations directly from us, and you will be required to submit the claims for reimbursement directly to your insurer. Also, ONVZ is changing their policy from reimbursing according to market-conform conditions to maximum rates, which will be substantially lower than before. 

Please note that this change in direct billing agreement does not apply to other departments namely; family practice, pharmacy, and dental care.

For medical specialist treatment/s and/or consultation/s you had in 2024, the invoice will still be declared directly to ONVZ. Medical specialist consultations scheduled from 01 January 2025 onwards, when invoiced 90-120 days later, will be sent to you.

Please rest assured that our team will assist you with the necessary documentation to submit claims, including invoices and any other relevant medical information, as necessary for reimbursement. For further information about IHCH specialist care billing, please feel free to contact us by sending an email to polybilling@ihch.nl or visit our website at www.ihch.nl

In case you want to change your health insurance company, you can do so by notifying your health insurer of the discontinuation before the end of December of this year, and you have to enter into a new contract before the end of January 2025.  Health insurance companies offer either Combination policies or Natura policies. With both policies you can go to non-contracted care providers, but the reimbursement rate with the Natura Policy will be lower than with the Combination Policy. 

 We remain dedicated to providing you with the highest quality of care and will continue to offer excellent services to support your healthcare needs.

We understand that this may cause inconvenience, and we sincerely apologize for any disruption this may cause. 

Thank you for your understanding and your continued trust in our practice.

Babies develop fewer antibodies against pertussis (whooping cough) if the mother is given the pertussis vaccine before the 24th week of pregnancy. These findings are from a multi-year study carried out by RIVM among preterm and full-term babies and their mothers. The results show that transfer of antibodies from mother to child is less efficient before the 24th week compared to later in pregnancy. There are no indications that protection against pertussis is insufficient if the vaccine is given earlier, at around 22 weeks.

Subject: Telephone Lines

Dear patients,

We are glad to inform you that our telephone lines are back to normal hours.

Our telephone accessibility will be as follows:

• For general inquiries and non-life-threatening medical concerns, we will be available from 08:00 to 11:00 AM and from 11:30 to 16:00 PM (select option 3 in the menu for the general practitioner).
• For life-threatening medical concerns, we will be available from 08:00 to 17:00 PM (select option 1 in the menu for the general practitioner).

We highly appreciate your understanding and cooperation during the period that we implemented a half day opening of our telephone lines. To streamline our services, all administrative queries, such as requesting laboratory results, canceling appointments, address changes, etc., be submitted via email. For prescription refills, an online option is available on our website.

Pilot Program and Future Appointments via the Website

As part of our ongoing efforts to improve our services, we are also exploring the possibility of scheduling future appointments online through our website. We will keep you informed of further developments in this regard.

If you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact us. We appreciate your understanding and cooperation as we strive to enhance your healthcare experience.

Best regards,

International Health Centre the Hague

Dear Patients,

The IHCH will be closed on Monday 26th December. All other days (except weekends) we are open.

Please note that the phone lines for the dental clinic will close at 16:00 (instead of 17:00) from Friday 23rd December until Friday 30th December. On Monday 2nd January 2023 the phone lines will resume usual opening times. For out-of-hours dental emergencies contact Dental 365. 

The GP practice, Polyclinic and Pharmacy phone lines remain unchanged throughout this period.

We thank you for your understanding and cooperation, and wish you all a wonderful and healthy festive period.

Kind regards,

International Health Centre the Hague

Dear Patients,

The Polyclinic telephone lines will now close at 16:00 pm.  This means you can call us anytime between 08:00 am and 16:00 pm, Monday through Friday. Our emergency line remains open throughout the day from 08:00-17:00.

To cancel appointments and for administrative requests you can email us at  ihchpoli@ezorg.nl. This includes requesting medical results, cancelling appointments, updating your personal details, etc.

Should you wish to request a repeat prescription you can use our form on our website.

We thank you for your understanding and cooperation!

Kind regards,

Polyclinic team

International Health Centre the Hague

Updates over Monkeypox – Frequently asked questions

1) What is Monkeypox and what are the most common symptoms?

Monkeypox is a rare disease caused by an infection with the monkeypox virus. The possible symptoms (even though they are not always present) include: fever, headache, muscle pain, swollen lymph nodes, chills, tiredness. A few days after the fever, a skin rash with blisters appears. The blisters will eventually dry up and form a crust. The rash usually starts on the face and then spreads to the whole body.

2) When should I contact my GP or the sexual health clinic about specific symptoms?

• If you have blisters on your body, especially if the first blisters formed are located in the area around your anus, genitals or face;
• If you have had any contact (including sexual contact) with someone who has monkeypox within the past three weeks;
• If young children develop these symptoms, it almost always indicates a chickenpox infection. Therefore, there is no need for you to contact your GP unless you were in Central or West Africa in the past three weeks, or had direct contact with someone who has monkeypox within the past three weeks.

3) Is there any treatment or medicine for monkeypox?

There is a registered medicine authorised for treating monkeypox in patients admitted to the hospital with severe symptoms, however, it is not yet available in the Netherlands. The smallpox vaccine can also be used for monkeypox, both in the first few days after possible exposure to the monkeypox virus (post-exposure prophylaxis), and also preventively to protect people who have a higher risk of infection (currently, only laboratory workers working in high-risk laboratories with the monkeypox virus are vaccinated preventively). *We currently DO NOT administer monkeypox (smallpox) vaccinations at the International Health Centre.

More information:

More information about Monkeypox can be found on the RIVM website: https://www.rivm.nl/en/monkeypox 

We have had reports of some patients waiting for very long periods of time on the phone lines and unfortunately the call never connects to an assistant. We are working with our telephone service provider to identify the cause of this issue to resolve it as soon as possible. 

Should you have been waiting on the phone for more than 45minutes, it is likely that this is the case. If you are calling the GP practice, please send us an email at ihchgp@ezorg.nl with your name and telephone number so that we can call you back. For emergencies please select the emergency line. For the Polyclinic please email ihchpoli@ezorg.nl

We apologize for the inconvenience this may cause you and we greatly appreciate your patience while we work on resolving this issue.

IHCH Team