Lioe-Fee de Geus-Oei

PET: tool of wonder and limitless imagination

As we find ourselves just before Christmas, at the end of the year 2016, I have all the more reason to share with you some reflections, not so much about the year that has gone by, however interesting, but particularly about the future of healthcare in the Netherlands and outside it. To venture into a new paradigm for delivering quality healthcare, we cannot help but start with amazing ourselves about the possibilities that are presently available. The impressive progress we have made over the past century to prolong our life spans was mainly due to a few practical and medical innovations: hygiene improved when proper toilets came in, and antibiotics and anaesthetics were discovered, helping to combat large-scale infections and allow operations to be performed. The challenge we are facing today, however, can no longer be accomplished along these lines but requires a different mindset, a different way of collaborating, and another way of deploying manpower and resources.