Lack of doctors in Thuringia: 117 household seats remain vacant!

Lack of doctors in Thuringia: 117 household seats remain vacant!

Sonneberg, Deutschland - In Thuringia, the situation in the healthcare system continues to come to a head. The Association of Statutory Health Insurance Physicians (KVT) currently reports over 115.5 open contract doctor's seats for general practitioners, a problem that has been discussed in the region for some time. There is also an alarming increase in the vacant positions: At the beginning of 2024 there were still 97, currently there are 117 open general practitioner doctors, such as MDR.

The distribution of the open house doctor points is uneven and mainly affects urban and rural areas. In Gera-Stadt and Eisenach, there are 9.5 vacancies, while there are 8.0 vacant seats in the district of Saalfeld/Rudolstadt/Bad Blankenburg. Added to this is the general undersupply of various specialists, such as ophthalmologists and nerve doctors, where there are several vacant areas.

request for a higher country doctor quota

In order to secure medical care in rural regions, the KVT calls for an increase in the land doctor rate. This was only decided by the state parliament in the summer of 2022 and stipulates that 6 percent of the study places at the Friedrich Schiller University Jena are reserved for prospective country doctors. Students have to commit to practice at least ten years in rural areas. KVT chairwoman Annette Rommel suggests that this rate can be raised from 6 to 10 percent, which in future could study a total of 29 students through this country doctor quota in Jena instead of 17. This could be a real chance of reducing the impending medical notice in the rural regions, since more than 6.3 million cases are treated by Thuringian general practitioners every year.

But the challenges do not end here. The CDU parliamentary group also recognizes the problem and supports the proposals for the land doctor quota. Christoph Zippel, a MP of the CDU, describes the increasing number of vacant household seats as an acute problem, which must be addressed urgently to ensure the medical care of the population in the future.

undersupply in special areas

The numbers speak a clear language: the KVT has pointed out specific bottlenecks in supply. In Thuringia, numerous places for specialists are vacant, including 14.5 for ophthalmologists and also for nerve doctors and ENT doctors. The district of Sonneberg is a particularly badly affected region among the ENT doctors. This imbalance in the system requires effective solutions that not only include short -term measures, but also long -term strategies for increasing attractiveness for medical professionals in rural areas.

In order to counteract this negative development, the KVT also supports new start -ups and acquisitions of practices in need -intensive regions with up to 60,000 euros. This could help to give new impulses and to win the young medical practitioners for rural practice.

It remains to be seen whether these measures will bear fruit. However, one thing is certain: the discussion about medical care in Thuringia and the necessary reforms will continue to accompany us. Further information can be found at [Ärztezeitung] (https://www.aerzentzeitung.de/politik/ Mehr-offene-hausarztsitzein-thueringen-kv-frage-hoehere-landarzt- 458375.html) and [Feature of Feature] (https://www.insuedthueringen.de/inhalt. Medizinische-Bersache- Mehr-offe- Hausarztsitze-hoehere-Hohehere-Hoheher-Hohehere-Hohehere-Hohehere- Hohehere0925c76-Cc8c-A400-ded76f2054Ae.html).