Biography
Dr J.C.T van der Lugt
History
During my training as an orthopedic surgeon, I came across a Dutch airlift for orthopedic patients to Alicante in Spain. This project was started in 2001 by the Red Cross Hospital (later merged into the HagaZiekenhuis) because of long waiting lists for orthopedic operations in the Netherlands. What struck me was the very high level of patient satisfaction with this rather special solution. Their joint problem was solved during a kind of mini holiday.
Years later, I myself worked in the HagaZiekenhuis as a PhD orthopedic surgeon and medical manager. At the time, too, care in the Netherlands was being budgeted for and waiting lists were mounting.
Start Spain
Due to my wife's Spanish background, I was already regularly in southern Spain; in 2017 we bought our own flat in Marbella. I also registered as a specialist in Spain in 2018. Every 2 months I then started performing orthopedic consultations at Hospital Ceram in Marbella. There I met FlexClinics who were looking for a collaboration for orthopedic care in southern Spain. At the end of 2019 we started the first operations, also for patients from the Netherlands. Unfortunately, the Corona crisis forced us to stay within the Netherlands. Fortunately, we were able to operate on patients in Utrecht in a newly built surgery complex. We started operating there in September 2020 and operated on both Dutch and international patients. In August 2021, we resumed our operations in Marbella.
Current work
In addition to these activities, I have continued my full practice at the Haga Hospital and later at the Reinier Haga orthopedic Centre with great pleasure. As of 2017, I have even become a trainer of the new generation of orthopedic surgeons there. I have also continued to specialise in repair surgery for hip and knee replacements that have failed. In 2020, we even started robot surgery at the Reinier Haga Orthopedic Centre. All in all, a very fun and challenging work environment, but my Spanish ambitions remained dormant.
The choice of emigration
We made the decision to emigrate as a family anyway. My wife is training as a sworn interpreter-translator Dutch-Spanish and Spanish-Dutch, our 3 children are in elementary school and can still adjust relatively easily, and both FlexClinics and Hospital Ceram believe in an orthopedic practice in Marbella. And now Cenyt Hospital as well.
The ambition
I hope to be able to use my many years of expertise in the hip and knee field, including the fitting of >4000 prostheses, in this new practice. I hope to be able to convince patients in Marbella of the muscle-sparing, anterior approach to hip replacement, of the success of primary hip and knee replacements, of the success of repair operations and, in the near future, of the operating robot. In time, other Dutch orthopedic surgeons will probably also provide care in Marbella on a regular basis.
I will continue to work 4 days a month at FlexClinics in Utrecht to keep in touch with the Netherlands and to keep the possibility of an air bridge open.
In any case, I am very much looking forward to this beautiful new adventure. I look forward to seeing you at the outpatient clinic!
Kind regards,
Joris van der Lugt
Orthopedic surgeon
