‎First Belgian polyclinic for minors with alcohol issues to be opened in Antwerp‎

The University of Antwerp is undertaking a large-scale research study on alcohol abuse among minors and wants to set up a polyclinic specialising in the issue.

"In Belgium, when a minor ends up in the emergency room due to alcohol, we attend to them medically, but it stops there,” says Guido Van Hal, a professor at the faculty of medicine at the University of Antwerp. “The patient returns home without having talked about their alcohol consumption. They may come back three months later."

From his office on the Drie Eiken campus in Antwerp, the professor has dreamed for years of setting up a polyclinic solely dedicated to alcohol-related issues among young people, a model that has proven itself in the Netherlands.

In Dutch polyclinics, in addition to medical treatment, minors who have fallen into a coma due to alcohol are subject to a multidisciplinary follow-up. At the "golden hour," the hour after they regain consciousness, they are placed in front of a computer to answer a questionnaire about their alcohol consumption.

"This is the most effective time for them to become aware of their actions,” says Professor Van Hal. “The parents are then called and are given the results. For two months, the teenager must go to a psychologist.”

For years, Professor Van Hal tried in vain to find funding in Belgium for this polyclinic project. In the end, it was the Dutch hospital in Delft Reinier de Graaf that made the professor's dream come true: "It's 'development aid' from the Netherlands to Belgium," he jokes.

To set up this polyclinic, a chairperson was elected. Hanna Van Rozendaal, a Dutch doctor who came to Antwerp to do her PhD, has occupied this role since May 2021.

In addition to the preparation of the polyclinic, the university has been conducting a large-scale study to collect data on cases of alcohol poisoning among minors in the Antwerp region since 2015. This is necessary to get an idea of the extent of the scourge since there is currently no database that collects the number of minors who land in the emergency room with alcohol poisoning.

Mutual health insurance societies know if a minor has undergone a blood alcohol test, because it is reimbursed, but it is not possible to access the results. "We would not like to know more: what blood alcohol level? What type of alcohol? Under what circumstances?" explains Hanna Van Rozendaal.

Even if there is still work to be done, she remains confident: "I am in contact with the emergency rooms of many hospitals. I have access to the data of the mutualities, it is moving forward and everyone is cooperating."

According to Hanna Van Rozendaal, one of the fundamental elements in reducing alcohol consumption remains prevention: "We go to the classrooms to talk about the dangers of alcohol,” she says. “After school, we would also like to go to youth movements or sports clubs."

The city of Antwerp will also launch an alcohol awareness campaign for students in collaboration with the University of Antwerp in September.

In the meantime, the polyclinic project is progressing. "Everyone asks us when the polyclinic will be operational,” says Guido Van Hal. “It is very difficult to say. We proceed step by step. We will start by founding the polyclinic for the Antwerp region. The idea, in the long run, is to apply this method in different hospitals. First in Flanders, then in the rest of Belgium."