Health - Neuruppin Clinic closes departments
In north-west Brandenburg, the ailing university hospital in Neuruppin is closing two specialist departments in the new year. From January 1, no more inpatients will be admitted to these clinics, as a spokeswoman for the responsible Pro Klinik Holding GmbH said before the turn of the year. The oral and maxillofacial surgery and ear, nose and throat clinics will be closed. The clinic is in a financial emergency with losses running into millions and is complaining about inadequate funding of the hospitals by the federal government.
The treatment of patients who have already been admitted as inpatients will be completed by the end of February, the spokeswoman said. Otherwise, patients will be transferred to another hospital. Outpatient procedures will also continue until February 29. The employees were offered the opportunity to continue working at the company, it said.
The district administrator of the Ostprignitz-Ruppin district, other local politicians and the hospital management sent a letter to Federal Health Minister Karl Lauterbach (SPD). Shortly before Christmas, they called on him to take immediate action in order to secure viable funding for specialist hospitals. The signatories expected Lauterbach to reply to their letter by mid-January, they said.
"The complete elimination of these medical services means that necessary and sufficient outpatient and inpatient medical care is also disappearing in these areas in an area twice the size of Saarland," the district lamented the closures. Patients could be exposed to health risks. According to the district, a total of 862 inpatients and 2670 outpatients were treated in the two affected clinics each year.
According to the doctors' network Medifair, several hundred people demonstrated in the region shortly before Christmas in support of keeping the departments open. There is also an online petition.
In Brandenburg, the situation is not only problematic in Neuruppin: the Elbe-Elster-Klinikum, which has three sites, plans to consolidate inpatient care at two sites from June 2024 due to financial difficulties. Last year, Spremberg Hospital in the district of Spree-Neiße applied for planned insolvency as protective shield proceedings and drew up a restructuring plan. The Ministry of Health set up a project group in view of the financial difficulties faced by hospitals.
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Source: www.stern.de
