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Mainz To motivate doctors of retirement age to continue working, given the shortage of doctors, tax advantages are needed. The president of the Federal Medical Association (B.K.), Klaus Reinhardt, proposed today in his opening speech at the 128th German Doctor’s Day.
If society wants to continue utilizing the workforce and expertise of these doctors, then smart regulations and tax incentives must be developed very quickly, Reinhardt said.
Doctors of retirement age are often willing to remain involved in patient care, at least part-time, as long as conditions are right, he said in Mainz. He had already said over the weekend that the shortage of doctors was no longer a prediction, but had long been a reality in many regions of Germany.
Around 4,800 general practitioner positions are unfilled and staff shortages in hospitals are similar. Additionally, nearly one in four doctors working today is 60 or older. Therefore, we are facing a massive wave of retirements that will further worsen the problem, warned the head of the BK.
Taking into account demographic changes, we need new incentives, agreed Catrin Steiniger, president of the Brandenburg Association of Statutory Health Insurance Doctors (KVBB), the president of the Federal Medical Association. However, tax relief for older colleagues may only be a building block.
In general, it should become attractive again for doctors of all ages to become involved in care. All practices, regardless of discipline, should be fully rewarded for their work, Steiniger said. We need a real debudgeting of outpatient medicine, she demanded.
Reinhardt also highlighted that the continued employment of retired doctors would benefit not only the health system, but also other sectors of the economy.
“We don’t just want to listen to lawyers and ministers about what is not possible,” said the president of the Federal Medical Association. We want to get suggestions on how this might work. Because it has to work, otherwise we will sink, he warned. © dpa/nfs/aerzteblatt.de