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Empty treatment room: Many doctors keep their practices closed until after New Year's Day
Photo: Sebastian Gollnow / dpa
Many doctors' offices will be closed for ten days this year – from Christmas Eve to 2 January. In protest against the health policy of Federal Minister Karl Lauterbach (SPD), doctors' associations have called for family doctors' and specialist practices not to be opened nationwide between the years. The action, which is planned for Wednesday to Friday, is part of the "Practice in Need" campaign, which is supported by more than 20 associations. Patient advocates and Lauterbach himself described the action as incomprehensible.
The Virchow Association of Resident Physicians expects that thousands of practices could remain closed. Practices had been called upon to inform their patients about the closure, to refer them to the medical on-call service and to provide replacement for urgent emergencies.
As usual, an important reason for the protest is money. One of the core demands of the doctors is the reintroduction of the new patient regulation, through which new patients could be billed without burdening the specified budget. In addition, the doctors are demanding that cost increases due to inflation and higher salaries of employees be included more quickly in the remuneration by the health insurance companies. Another important reason is the structural reforms that Lauterbach is pushing forward and which are intended to rearrange the interaction between hospitals and general practitioners.
"The demands of the medical profession are well known"
The chairman of the German Patient Protection Foundation, Eugen Brysch, had criticized the announced strike. "Even the union of German train drivers refrains from strikes between Christmas and the beginning of the new year. That's why it's incomprehensible that in times of many sick people there are calls for practice closures," he told the Rheinische Post. The campaign mainly affects old and weak people.
Health Minister Lauterbach confirmed the need for action: "We have to make a reform. That didn't work for many years," the SPD politician told RBB. We have too much bureaucracy in the practices. That's what we're working on now." Proposals for a necessary reduction in bureaucracy and a fee reform have been prepared for months. Lauterbach, however, criticized the strike itself: "The demands of the medical profession are known, they do not need to be presented again, so there is no need to strike now, especially when so many people are sick," he said.
fdi/dpa