Rostock/Schwerin (dpa/mv) – An overload report from doctors at the Children’s and Youth Clinic at the Rostock University Medical Center is causing a stir in political Schwerin. The CDU health politician Katy Hoffmeister demanded on Wednesday that the university minister responsible for university medicine, Bettina Martin (SPD), urgently had to explain why, after more than a year, the situation at the children’s and youth clinic in Rostock was still unresolved and the security of care for the youngest was “obvious dramatically endangered”.
Doctors wrote on August 23 that, to their knowledge, six specialists would leave the children’s and youth clinic “in an already massively tense personnel situation” on October 1 if only one new appointment was planned. As the remaining pediatric specialists, they assessed the situation in such a way that the services to be provided could no longer be guaranteed with the existing staff.
Hoffmeister accused the University Minister Martin of doing nothing. There have been problems at Rostock University Medicine for a long time. An investigative committee of the state parliament is dealing with it. In the summer of 2021, the country prematurely separated from CEO Christian Schmidt – the reason given was a loss of trust. On October 1, the anesthetist and business economist Christiane Stehle takes over the post.
Martin’s ministry rejected the accusations made by the CDU state parliamentarian Hoffmeister as unfounded. At the center for paediatrics, there are 32 medical positions calculated on a full-time basis, all of which are currently occupied, a ministry spokesman said. Due to parental leave and employment bans, for example due to pregnancy, there are actually 25.9 positions working for medical care. This is a significant improvement compared to autumn 2021 – at that time only 20.5 positions were occupied. According to the ministry, from mid-December 2022 five doctors will gradually return to work after parental leave or a ban on employment.
In addition, the job budget is open-ended. The board of directors and the supervisory board have not set any limits on the hiring of doctors at the children’s and youth clinic of Rostock University Medicine. “This means that even if all 32 positions are filled, further applications will be examined and paediatricians will be hired,” explained the spokesman.
