/Michael Rosskothen, stock.adobe.com
Berlin’s Federal Health Minister Karl Lauterbach (SPD) should convene a Medical East training summit at which all science and health ministers of the East German states would meet. Five FDP chairmen from Thuringia, Brandenburg, Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania have put forward this proposal in a current position paper.
The aim should be to define a clear path for expanding study capacity, which should serve as the basis for an amended university pact, write Thomas Kemmerich, chairman of the FDP in the Thuringian state parliament, Zyon Braun, chairman of the FDP Brandenburg, Anita Maa, chairman of the FDP Saxony, and Andreas Silbersack, chairman of the FDP parliamentary group in the Saxony-Anhalt state parliament and Ren Domke, leader of the FDP parliamentary group in the Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania state parliament.
FDP politicians explain that there is a shortage of medical, dental, pharmaceutical, therapeutic and nursing care, particularly in the structurally weak rural regions of the East German states.
In order to ensure needs-based care for practicing doctors, dentists and pharmacists, more university graduates and graduates in therapeutic and nursing professions are needed in these professions, who would also work in the eastern German federal states.
Therefore, the study and training capacities in the East German states urgently need to be expanded. Locally trained doctors, dentists, pharmacists, therapists and nurses are more likely to be hired to provide care in the region later on.
At the same time, the FDP chairmen emphasized that they are aware that establishing and expanding student placement capacity will take a long time. However, the East German states immediately needed more capacity. According to the FDP members, one solution is the model project Study in Europe Future in Saxony. Association of Statutory Health Insurance Physicians in Saxony.
It is possible to use the study capacity of private or European universities to meet the demand for graduates needed to provide care, provided there are not enough study places available at public universities, he continues.
In addition to increasing the number of study places, the general conditions for young doctors also need to be improved in order to achieve short-term results. As an example, the FDP cites the promotion of the settlement of doctors, dentists and pharmacists in rural areas of Thuringia. The Free State of Thringen is granting a grant of up to 40,000 euros for investments.
In the article, the FDP politicians also address other aspects of the supply in Thringen, Brandenburg, Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania.
In nursing, the generalist training system should be reconsidered based on practical experience. Mainly due to the shortage of qualified workers, existing personnel should be utilized more efficiently and the experience of other health professions should be fully utilized.
It further states that pharmacies, with their pharmaceutical expertise, need to be more closely involved in the delivery of care. Politicians must fulfil their responsibility to ensure the profitability of pharmacies with adequate remuneration.
The FDP also does not see the potential of pharmaceutical suppliers as being fully exploited. In the party’s view, physiotherapists and occupational therapists in particular have a wealth of knowledge and experience that, unlike their colleagues in other EU countries, they have not yet been able to fully utilise.
We are therefore committed to direct access to these professions, write the FDP politicians. This would improve the quality of care, reduce the costs of long-term care in the health system, ease the burden on family doctors and reduce the number of contacts with patients that are not medically necessary.
The FDP demands more personal responsibility from patients. Demand also needs to be controlled before patients even use the system. In Thringen alone, around a quarter of appointments are not kept without an excuse, it was said.
The advantages of case management should also be leveraged. This particularly affects patients with chronic or degenerative diseases as well as complex health problems.
FDP politicians describe it as essential to free the medical and nursing professions from bureaucracy. This would be the quickest way to support them. They accuse Federal Health Minister Lauterbach of not passing the necessary law. © may/aerzteblatt.de