2,500 signatures against the University Medicine Act were handed over to Prime Minister Mappus and the FDP
02.02.2011 16:32
University Medicine Association: Stop the law and prevent damage to university medicine in Baden-Württemberg
Around 2,500 signatories have signed the homepage www.stopp-unimedgesetz.de demanded the abandonment of the University Medicine Act, which the Baden-Württemberg state parliament is scheduled to adopt on February 3, 2011. The German University Medicine Association presented the online petition today to Minister President Stefan Mappus (CDU) and the FDP.
Given the undisputed successes of Baden-Württemberg's university medicine sector, the law is unnecessary and will harm it, say representatives of the university medicine sector. "Contrary to the coalition agreement, the law does not lead to greater freedom of action, but rather restricts it," the letter to the Minister-President states. In a further letter to FDP ministers Ernst Pfister and Ulrich Goll and the FDP state parliament members, they are called upon to implement the greater freedom of action for university hospitals, which they promised at the beginning of the legislative period, and to ensure less government interference in accordance with their own principles.
The homepage www.stopp-unimedgesetz.de was established on the initiative of the Association of University Hospitals in Germany (VUD), which, together with the Medical Faculty Association, forms the umbrella organization German University Medicine eV.
Support from the public, nationwide university medicine and politics
Over the past ten days, employees, professors, and students from the university hospitals in Freiburg, Heidelberg, Tübingen, and Ulm have registered on the website. Support for the cause of not weakening university medicine in Baden-Württemberg has also come from the public. Signatories to the online petition also include deans, medical and commercial directors from university medicine across Germany—for example, in Munich, Erlangen, Würzburg, Frankfurt, Göttingen, Bonn, Münster, and Hanover—as well as state parliament members and candidates, including other politicians and members of the European Parliament.
On January 31, 143 medical professors from Baden-Württemberg also warned against the draft with a full-page advertisement in the Stuttgarter Zeitung and the Stuttgarter Nachrichten. Prior to this, the staff council of Heidelberg University Hospital had already handed over 1,000 signatures to Heidelberg CDU state parliament member Werner Pfisterer.