Finding a paediatrician in the Netherlands

If you have recently moved to the Netherlands with young children, you may have discovered that accessing specialist medical care works very differently here.
Dr. Buskin and the Clinic for Children, based in The Hague – Statenkwartier and Wassenaar, have been supporting expat families through exactly this challenge for over 20 years.

The Netherlands has a high-quality healthcare system — but it is built around a gatekeeping model that can feel unfamiliar, and at times frustrating, for families arriving from the United States, the United Kingdom, India, or elsewhere in the world.

In most countries, finding a paediatrician is not hard. Parents can book directly with a paediatrician when their child is unwell or needs a developmental check-up. In the Netherlands, this direct access does not exist within the standard public system. Your registered general practitioner (huisarts) acts as the first point of contact and decides whether a referral to a specialist is needed. For many expat parents, this means:

For families used to proactive, preventive care — or simply to picking up the phone and speaking directly to a doctor they trust — this can be an isolating and stressful experience. When it is your child’s health at stake, that stress is amplified considerably. At Clinic for children, your journey of finding a paediatrician comes to an end.

Dr. Buskin is a fully qualified and highly experienced paediatrician who has built his practice around the needs of international families living in and around The Hague. He understands the expat experience not just medically, but personally: the uncertainty of a new country, the difficulty of navigating an unfamiliar system, and the importance of having a doctor you can genuinely trust and communicate with in English.

Alongside his paediatric expertise, Dr. Buskin is also a trained classical homeopath and practitioner of integrative medicine — meaning he looks at the whole child, not just an isolated symptom.

“I take time in consultations to understand your child’s full health picture, medical history, temperament, and family context. For many expat parents, this approach feels both familiar and deeply reassuring.”

At the Clinic for Children, you can access paediatric care directly — without needing a referral first. Consultations are conducted in English, follow-up is attentive and personal, and families are treated as long-term partners in their child’s health, not as a number in a queue.

Dr. Buskin sees children from birth through adolescence and offers support across a wide range of concerns, including general paediatric care, annual health check-ups, developmental assessments, recurrent or chronic illness, allergies, respiratory conditions, digestive issues, sleep and behavioural concerns, and integrative or homeopathic approaches for families seeking alternatives or complements to conventional treatment.

Over the past two decades, the Clinic for Children has worked with expat families from across the globe — including families from the United States, the United Kingdom, India, Australia, Singapore, South Africa, and throughout Europe. Many have come through The Hague’s large international community, drawn here by organisations such as Shell, the International Criminal Court, the European Patent Office, NATO, and many others.

Whether you have just arrived in the Netherlands, are struggling to find a paediatrician or to navigate the referral system, have a child with a complex or chronic condition, or are simply looking for a paediatrician you can speak to openly and directly — we are here.