Pharmacists, doctors and dentists ask Chancellor for help
20.10.2023 12:15
Patients are threatened with a deterioration in the nationwide and local supply of pharmacies, medical and psychotherapy practices and dental practices. In order to avoid exactly this, there is now an unprecedented solidarity between pharmacists, doctors and dentists.
At the federal press conference, Gabriele Regina Overwiening (President of the ABDA), Dr. Andreas Gassen (Chairman of the National Association of Statutory Health Insurance Physicians KBV) and Martin Hendges (Chairman of the Board of Directors of the National Association of Statutory Health Insurance Dentists KZBV) today (October 19th) had the opportunity to jointly inform the capital's press about the difficult situation in the healthcare system. Your appeal: Chancellor Olaf Scholz should act quickly and make health policy a top priority!
The federal government's health policy is not oriented towards everyday care
Overwiening: “Almost two years ago, the traffic light coalition started with the aim of continuously improving this outpatient care. Now – halfway through the legislative period – we – the three independent healthcare professions – unfortunately have to realize that the health policy of this federal government is not based on everyday care.”
The ABDA President is also concerned with appreciation: “In the delivery bottleneck crisis, pharmacies are proving once again how important they are for public services. On behalf of politicians, they are taking on more and more tasks in providing care close to home - but despite rising costs, our remuneration has not been adjusted for eleven years. As a result, the number of pharmacies is on the decline. The federal government must stabilize the nationwide pharmacy network as quickly as possible!”
Overwiening explicitly warned of Federal Health Minister Karl Lauterbach's current plans to relax the requirements for new pharmacy branches. “Especially in districts with many branch pharmacies, people will search in vain at night and on weekends for a pharmacy that still supplies them. And if a medicine is not available again, the remaining, mutilated fake pharmacies will no longer be able to produce medicines themselves because the necessary laboratory and prescription facility no longer exist," said Overwiening, adding that the SPD politician Karl Lauterbach promised several times that there would be no reductions in benefits with him.
Current policies are destroying outpatient structures
The KBV board chairman Dr. In his statement, Andreas Gassen recalled the politicians' promises: “We know that many of our established colleagues already see the need to limit their range of services. Minister Lauterbach promised at the time that there would be no cuts in benefits under him. In fact, his entire policy amounts to exactly this when he destroys the outpatient structures with self-employed freelancers as the backbone of care.”
Devastating consequences for dental patient care
Martin Hendges, CEO of the KZBV, warned of cuts: “The federal government's cost containment policy and in particular the strict budgeting anchored in the GKV Financial Stabilization Act are already having devastating consequences for dental patient care - especially for the new, prevention-oriented periodontitis therapy. Periodontitis is a complex inflammatory disease in humans and interacts directly with diabetes mellitus and also influences other serious general diseases. In the interests of prevention-oriented patient care, it is imperative to exclude periodontitis therapy services from the budget this year!”