De ladder van Mackenbach

At the seventh NTvG Congress, held on 5 November 2016, Professor Johan Mackenbach, Chair of the Department of Public Health at the Erasmus University in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, quoted Rudolf Virchow, when he said that ‘politics is just medicine on a large scale’. According to Virchow, medical doctors are particularly well qualified to lead society on account of their knowledge of the causes of disease. Mackenbach introduced the idea of a ‘ladder of political activism’, a ladder with four levels at which healthcare professionals could be politically engaged and could exert their influence on political decision making. In this contribution, the author describes her experience as a member of the Dutch parliament, standing on what Mackenbach calls the highest rung of this ladder, and indicates why she thinks it is important that healthcare professionals take an active part in the public debate and try to influence political decision making. The knowledge they have gained in the consulting room is indispensable in this setting.

Conflict of interest and financial support: none declared.