/picture Alliance, CHROMORANGE, Christian Ohde
According to Berlin Federal Minister of Health Karl Lauterbach (SPD), hundreds of hospitals will be reallocated or will no longer offer all services over the next decade.
Most of these will be affected in major West German cities, he said in an interview. picture on sunday. These clinics have neither staff nor demand; One in every three beds is now empty.
According to the minister, quality can also improve if the maintenance of complex procedures is centralized. This is already common in other countries.
At the same time, additional fees should be charged for rural clinics, which we urgently need, in areas that are currently in deficit but should be available everywhere.
Lauterbach cited pediatrics and obstetrics, emergency and accident care, traumatology, stroke care and critical care medicine as examples.
The politician criticized the previous system as very inefficient. If digitalization had occurred earlier, experts could work more efficiently today. Life expectancy is also higher in all Western European countries than in Germany.
Our system is the most expensive in Europe, but its quality is mid-range, not premium. That’s why we need structural reforms. © kna/aerzteblatt.de