Magdeburg (dpa/sa) – By 2030, around 40 percent of outpatient pediatricians in Saxony-Anhalt could retire. Currently, 74 of the 178 doctors are 57 years or older. This emerges from the response of the state government to a small request from the left-wing member of the state parliament, Nicole Anger. Health Minister Petra Grimm-Benne (SPD) must face this political task immediately, Anger told the German Press Agency. “How many numbers does this state government need to finally take action?”
In the answer to the small question, the Ministry of Health points out that the Association of Statutory Health Insurance Physicians is responsible for ensuring pediatric and adolescent medical care. This states that positions are advertised nationwide and that a minimum turnover guarantee can be granted for new doctors in the first year. This is intended to mitigate the economic risk at the beginning of outpatient work.
According to the Association of Statutory Health Insurance Physicians, there is also an initiative that supports doctors in finding a successor and brings interested parties together. As part of a scholarship program, two interested parties also decided to go into the field of pediatric and adolescent medicine. They are obliged to later practice in Saxony-Anhalt.
These efforts are not enough for left-wing politician Anger. More measures are needed to keep people in the country, she said. Among other things, medical studies must be made more accessible for “country children”.
A spokeswoman for the Association of Statutory Health Insurance Physicians said when asked that there had long been calls for an increase in the number of medical study places in order to replace the places that were lost in the early 1990s.