According to De Limburger, the three-person executive board of MUMC spent some 157 thousand euro on trips abroad, in particular to the United States. Furthermore, chair Helen Mertens and her fellow board members Geraline Leusink and Gabriël Zwart spent 97 thousand euro in eighteen months (2022 and the first half of 2023) on private chauffeurs who drove them to conferences and meetings. Their behaviour with regard to expenses caused a great deal of controversy. Board members of other Limburg care organisations expressed their disapproval of the expenses in De Limburger and called them “exorbitant”, “quite high” and “bizarre”. The trade unions in the health care sector spoke of a “completely wrong signal towards our bedside carers”.
Student chauffeur
The issue is all the more relevant in the light of the announced merger talks between UM and the university hospital. Looking at the foreign travelling expenses of the Executive Board as published in the UM’s 2022 annual account, one can see that the total falls short of 1,300 euro. The trips within the Netherlands amount to 45 thousand euro (including 11,758 euro for president Rianne Letschert’s leased car, as she lives with her family in Brabant). A total of 25 thousand euro was spent on official expenses (representatiekosten). This includes a partly compensation for the rental of Letschert’s studio in Maastricht. Rector Pamela Habibović also lives outside the province. “If her duties in Maastricht require that she spend the night here,” her expenses are paid, says the annual account. She also makes occasional use of a “student chauffeur for commuting”.
Spirit of the time
The question is whether UM president Letschert, who works closely together with Mertens, knew about the expenses claim behaviour at the hospital and what she thinks of it. “We talked about it with the MUMC board, after the publication. It is not for me to judge. If their actions fit within the rules [on declarations by healthcare executives, ed], but we as society still question the expenses, then we should talk about the content of that regulation, whether it is still in the spirit of the times. But the attack on people - and surely that is what has happened now at MUMC - I find too harsh. As if they are money-grabbers. I don’t recognise that image at all. Moreover, in light of the conversations I have had with them, I have gained a more nuanced picture about the nature of the expenses.” Details about this she would not disclose, but she hopes they can be “widely shared” on a certain moment.
Last Monday, Mertens already said in the New Year's address to MUMC employees that she had acted “within the prevailing rules and agreements”, but that she and her fellow board members understood the message. “In our travels and expenses, we will make careful choices and be transparent: is a trip really necessary and what mode of transport is chosen?” De Limburger cites.
The Hague
However, Letschert does not think there is necessarily a need to travel less; “I don't think a ‘more austere’ expenses culture is better in that sense. You also gain a lot of knowledge during meetings abroad that you use for the development of your own organisation. That I don’t travel much is my choice.” Letschert, with internationalisation in her portfolio (including YUFE), stayed mostly in the Netherlands, mainly because of ‘anti-internationalisation plans’ in The Hague to which she wanted to give her “full attention” and make her voice heard.