Frankfurt/Main (dpa/lhe) – Despite the tense situation in pediatrics, the opening hours of the pediatric on-call services are being shortened. As the Association of Statutory Health Insurance Physicians (KV) Hesse announced on Tuesday, the pediatric on-call service centers in Frankfurt, Offenbach, Darmstadt, Gießen and Wiesbaden will be staffed around two hours less from the new year.
“We are aware that this decision is difficult in view of the supply situation and the current wave of infections, especially among children and young people. But we are preventing the collapse of the supply structures in the medical on-call service,” the KV justifies the measure. The on-call service is a voluntary service. “Curning it now at least ensures that it can continue to be maintained.”
The pediatric on-call service is therefore only manned throughout Hesse on Wednesdays and Fridays between 4 p.m. and 6 p.m. and on Saturdays, Sundays and on public holidays and bridging days from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. According to the KV, the new times will initially apply until March 31. The reason given by the KV is the shortage of skilled workers and the overwork of medical professionals: “Therefore, we feel compelled to adapt opening hours to the availability and (power) resources of the staff.”
The medical on-call service (ÄBD), which also includes a pediatrician and an ophthalmologist on-call service, treats patients with acute symptoms outside of the practice’s office hours, who would normally visit a practice and who cannot wait until the next working day for treatment in a hospital. The ÄBD can be reached nationwide by telephone on 116117. There are 70 on-call service centers in Hesse.
