End of the moratorium on pet scanners, proton-emitting radiotherapy devices and nuclear magnetic resonance (nmr) - symphonex-CC BY-SA 2.0
Photo: symphonex-CC BY-SA 2.0

- By Equal team

End of the moratorium on pet scanners, proton-emitting radiotherapy devices and nuclear magnetic resonance (nmr)

The Royal Decree of June 18, 2017 setting the dates from which a moratorium referred to in Art.62/1or/2 of the Co-ordinated Law of July 10, 2008 on hospitals and other healthcare institutions ceases to exist, was published in the Belgian Official Journal.

This Royal Decree lifts, as of June 30, 2017, the moratorium which had been imposed by the federal government (at the end of 2016) on PET scanners, NMR (and nuclear medicine and medical imaging services where these devices are operated) as well as on proton-emitting radiotherapy devices.

This does not mean that hospitals will now be able to acquire and operate these devices without the supervision of the authorities, but simply that flexible planning will be able to resume.

In other words, the federal government (since it is always the federal government who is responsible for setting the number of devices and services) will be able to authorise federated entities to grant new approvals.

However, we should not expect an eruption of new approvals since the Federal Health Minister’s position on heavy medical devices is very clear, notably regarding PET scans: in the future, hospitals will have to consider their provision of network healthcare services (see, in this regard, Maggie De Block's plan of action concerning the reform of hospital funding of May 8, 2017 as well as the preparatory work on the framework legislation of 25.12.2016 – Doc 54-2208/001; p. 13-14).

Associated areas of specialisation: Health and social security

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