/ image alliance, Flashpic, Jens Krick
Berlin At its last meeting before the parliamentary summer recess, the Federal Council today considered a resolution to speed up the recognition procedures for foreign-trained doctors.
The proposal, which the State Chamber accepted, was submitted by the Bavarian State Government and the governments of Baden-Württemberg, Hesse, Lower Saxony, North Rhine-Westphalia, Saxony and Schleswig-Holstein.
The acquisition, recognition and sustainable integration of skilled workers from abroad is one of the central elements in preventing or filling personnel shortages and gaps in this country, said Bavarian Health Minister Judith Gerlach (CSU).
Unfortunately, the recognition procedures for doctors trained in a third country are particularly complex. Currently, these procedures in Bavaria take an average of 18 to 24 months after the documents are completed, says Gerlach.
According to the appellants, the Federal Council should therefore support the change of the current legal situation in order to be able to carry out the recognition procedures more quickly than before.
This requires several adjustments to the Federal Medical Regulations (BO) and the Licensing Regulations for Physicians (ApprO), which ensure that the recognition process is streamlined, as required.
In the future, instead of a very time-consuming examination of training documents, there will mainly be an oral knowledge test before a state examination commission.
The analysis of training documents should only take place at the express and binding request of the candidate, explained Gerlach.
Furthermore, by amending federal law, the states should be given the opportunity to allow purely electronic applications. At present, professional licensing offices usually still have to request paper documents. This is no longer appropriate, said the Bavarian Health Minister. © hil/sb/aerzteblatt.de