On February 1, 2025, the first post-COVID centers of expertise for children will open at UMC Utrecht, Amsterdam UMC and Maastricht UMC+. These centers will focus specifically on children and adolescents with long-term symptoms after a COVID-19 infection. The combined expertise of these university medical centers in care, research and education will provide children from all over the Netherlands access to diagnostics and treatments according to the latest scientific insights.
Since November 2024, children and adults with post-COVID can register for the post-COVID centers of expertise through their primary care physician. From February 1, 2025, the first children will be seen in the expertise centers in Amsterdam, Maastricht and Utrecht. Adults with post-COVID symptoms could already visit the post-COVID expertise centers at Amsterdam UMC, Erasmus MC and Maastricht UMC+ from November 2024 onwards.
Dr. Sanne Nijhof
The added value of these new expertise centers dedicated to children and adolescents is that there will be an interdisciplinary team to help and teach these children to the best of our knowledge, explains Sanne Nijhof MD PhD, a pediatrician at Wilhelmina Children’s Hospital (part of UMC Utrecht) in an interview for RTV Utrecht. Nijhof, who is an expert in chronic fatigue conditions in children and adolescents, explained that children with post-covid struggle with a wide range of symptoms. Brain fog is common, affecting concentration and thinking ability. Children may also suffer from post-exercise malaise, with getting extra and more severe symptoms after exertion. The goal of the treatment is to improve symptoms and quality of life in a customized manner, Nijhof SAID.
The collaborating patient organizations Kinderen met LongCovid, PostCovid NL en Long Covid Nederland also think it is great news that children can now go to the centers of expertise. Diewke de Haen on behalf of the patient organizations: “It is a promising first step! Thanks to the opening of the expertise centers, valuable knowledge can be gathered that contributes to the recognition of post-COVID by healthcare providers and can improve the care of all children with post-COVID.”
Children visiting the centers will be examined extensively by multidisciplinary teams of healthcare providers. These teams tailor care to the patient’s individual symptoms and needs. The results of treatments are regularly evaluated so that diagnostics and care can be adapted to the latest scientific insights. Promising treatment methods are also analyzed as soon as possible and used where possible. The establishment of the post-COVID centers of expertise is the result of close cooperation with patient organizations and the Dutch Association for Pediatrics, among others.
In the three Dutch centers of expertise, patients will receive a personalized treatment plan, aimed at improving symptoms and thus quality of life. In doing so, the centers offer a new perspective to children who have often been struggling with post-COVID symptoms for a long time. At the same time, research into physical disturbances in post-COVID is being conducted at the centers to gain a better understanding of the cause and consequences of post-COVID.
Hundreds of children are expected to be seen at the centers of expertise in the coming months. This marks an important step in improving care for children with post-COVID. By continuously collaborating with healthcare professionals, researchers and patient organizations, the UMCs contribute to a better understanding of this complex condition and to future-oriented solutions.
The post-COVID centers of expertise were established with a dual mission: to provide high-quality care and to accelerate the acquisition of knowledge and experience. The centers were not established to treat all post-COVID patients in the Netherlands in the short term, but to rapidly gain knowledge and experience and then share it with hospitals, general practitioners and other healthcare providers. This will enable the best care for post-COVID patients; close to home where possible, further from home where necessary.