Maarten Johannes "Martin" van Rijn (born 7 February 1956) is a Dutch politician and businessman who served as Minister for Medical Care from March to July 2020. A member of the Labour Party (PvdA), he previously was CEO and chairman of the Reinier Haga Groep (a hospital conglomerate) from 1 December 2017. He served as State Secretary at the

Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport The Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport (; VWS) is the Ministries of the Netherlands, Dutch Ministry responsible for public health, health care, quality of life, social work and sport. The Ministry was created in 1951 as the "Ministry of Socia ...

, dealing with nursing and care, elderly policy, youth policy and biotechnology in the

Second Rutte cabinet The second Rutte cabinet, also called the Rutte–Asscher cabinet, was the executive branch of the Government of the Netherlands from 5 November 2012 until 26 October 2017. The cabinet was formed by the conservative-liberal People's Party for F ...

, from November 2012 to October 2017. Prior to this, he was CEO of the PGGM

pension fund A pension fund, also known as a superannuation fund in some countries, is any program, fund, or scheme which provides pension, retirement income. The U.S. Government's Social Security Trust Fund, which oversees $2.57 trillion in assets, is the ...

(2008–2012).

Career

In his capacity as a civil servant he was Director-General for

health care Health care, or healthcare, is the improvement or maintenance of health via the preventive healthcare, prevention, diagnosis, therapy, treatment, wikt:amelioration, amelioration or cure of disease, illness, injury, and other disability, physic ...

at the Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport from 2003 to 2007, Director-General for management and personnel policy at the

Ministry of the Interior and Kingdom Relations The Ministry of the Interior and Kingdom Relations (; BZK) is the Ministries of the Netherlands, Netherlands' ministry responsible for domestic policy, civil service, public administration, elections, relations with local governments, intelligen ...

from 2000 to 2003 and Deputy Director-General for

housing Housing refers to a property containing one or more Shelter (building), shelter as a living space. Housing spaces are inhabited either by individuals or a collective group of people. Housing is also referred to as a human need and right to ...

at the

Ministry of Housing, Spatial Planning and the Environment The Ministry of Housing and Spatial Planning ( or ''VRO'') is a Dutch ministry (government department), government ministry. It was re-established in 2024 after having been disbanded in 2010. The current minister is Mona Keijzer. History The M ...

from 1995 to 2000. Van Rijn studied economics at

Erasmus University Rotterdam Erasmus University Rotterdam ( ; abbreviated as EUR) is a public research university located in Rotterdam, Netherlands. The university is named after Desiderius Erasmus Roterodamus, a 15th-century Christian humanist and theologian. Erasmus M ...

. On 15 November 2017 he was named president of the directing board of Reinier Haga Groep, managing hospitals in

The Hague The Hague ( ) is the capital city of the South Holland province of the Netherlands. With a population of over half a million, it is the third-largest city in the Netherlands. Situated on the west coast facing the North Sea, The Hague is the c ...

Delft Delft () is a List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and Municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of South Holland, Netherlands. It is located between Rotterdam, to the southeast, ...

and

Zoetermeer Zoetermeer () is a city in the Western Netherlands, in the province of South Holland. The municipality covers an area of of which is water. A small village until the late 1960s, it had 6,392 inhabitants in 1950. By 2023 this had grown to 126.998 ...

. On 20 March 2020, he was appointed as a replacement to the role of Minister of Medical Care due to the resignation of

Bruno Bruins Bruno Johannes Bruins (born 10 July 1963) is a Dutch politician of the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD) who served as Minister for Medical Care in the Third Rutte cabinet from 26 October 2017 to 19 March 2020, when he resigned. H ...

who collapsed from exhaustion during a parliamentary debate. He indicated he would sit on a non-partisan basis, as the Labour Party does not support the

Third Rutte cabinet The third Rutte cabinet was the cabinet of the Netherlands from 26 October 2017 until 10 January 2022 (since 15 January 2021 demissionary). It was formed by a coalition government of the political parties People's Party for Freedom and Democra ...

(a non supporting party member as minister is highly unusual in Dutch politics). He remains a member of the PvdA. In 2025, Van Rijn was asked by the government to mediate in

collective bargaining Collective bargaining is a process of negotiation between employers and a group of employees aimed at agreements to regulate working salaries, working conditions, benefits, and other aspects of workers' compensation and labour rights, rights for ...

for pharmacy workers. Upon the announcement, unions canceled a planned strike.

Decorations

References

External links

;Official *
Drs. M.J. (Martin) van Rijn
Parlement & Politiek {{DEFAULTSORT:Rijn, Martin Van 1956 births Living people Businesspeople from Rotterdam Dutch chief executives in the finance industry Dutch healthcare chief executives Dutch corporate directors Erasmus University Rotterdam alumni Labour Party (Netherlands) politicians Officers of the Order of Orange-Nassau Politicians from Rotterdam State secretaries for health of the Netherlands 20th-century Dutch civil servants 21st-century Dutch businesspeople 21st-century Dutch civil servants 21st-century Dutch politicians