Around 40 firefighters from Hallertau drove up to the State Chancellery in Munich on Wednesday at ten o’clock. They came in full uniform and wanted to speak to Prime Minister Markus Söder personally, their concern was so important to them: the future of the clinic in Mainburg. They viewed the planned downgrading of the hospital to a regional medical care center with “great concern,” according to a letter they left with the Prime Minister because they did not meet him themselves. “Ensure that our hospital remains a primary care provider in the long term.” If Mainburg – as is currently being discussed – loses its emergency room with a shock room and intensive care unit, real emergency care would no longer be guaranteed.
The firefighters are not alone with their letter of protest. There is currently resentment in many places in Bavaria when small clinics are to be converted into care centers. Most recently, around 5,000 people demonstrated in Tirschenreuth for the preservation of the clinics in their district. But hospitals often have no other choice. The clinic reform announced by Federal Health Minister Karl Lauterbach sets out strict requirements as to what doctors, nurses and equipment a clinic that wants to have an emergency room must have. Many smaller clinics are already underutilized and therefore cannot simply continue as they are for economic reasons.
It’s the same in Mainburg. The clinic is one of the public hospitals in and around Ingolstadt that joined forces last year to develop a future strategy. Things couldn’t continue as before. Together, the Ingolstadt Clinic and the surrounding hospitals in Eichstätt, Kösching, Pfaffenhofen, Mainburg and the Schrobenhausen District Hospital posted a loss of a whopping 75 million euros in 2023.
Last year, the region’s public clinics jointly commissioned the consulting firm PwC to develop a concept. The consultants recommended that the clinics cooperate closely. It is an ambitious project, simply because of the number of actors who would have to come to an agreement here: the independent city of Ingolstadt is involved, as well as the four neighboring districts of Neuburg-Schrobenhausen, Eichstätt, Pfaffenhofen an der Ilm, Kelheim, as well as the clinic Ingolstadt also the district of Upper Bavaria.
For the Mainburg location, the experts propose an expanded health center with a specialist center for endoprosthetics. The assessment is plausible and understandable, says the managing director of the Ilmtalkliniken, Christian Degen. He understands the citizens’ anger at losing a fully-fledged hospital, but also knows that Mainburg has to change. The house will no longer be able to meet the requirements of the planned hospital reform.
Anyone who wants to operate an emergency room in the future will have to prove that they also have internal medicine, surgery and an anesthesiologist who can be there within 30 minutes, as well as a trained emergency medicine doctor. The house currently meets all of these requirements. But due to the shortage of staff, it is becoming increasingly difficult to find enough doctors and nurses.
The managing director is also convinced that the care of the people in the region does not have to suffer as long as it is ensured that emergency services arrive just as quickly. Even today, people after serious car accidents are not taken to the nearest hospital, but rather to the Murnau accident clinic. Severe burns are treated in Munich and children also travel longer distances to get to the right ones, namely the children’s clinics. “That’s why the initial care has to be 100 percent correct,” says Degen.
Kelheim District Administrator Martin Neumeier (CSU) also wants citizens to recognize the opportunities of this process. “I think it’s good that the fire departments care about their homeland and that they are committed,” he says. But as district administrator he also has to keep an eye on the costs. The clinic’s deficits would have to be financed through the district levy. This affects every single municipality.
He wants to talk to the citizens. An information event is planned. In any case, he hasn’t been able to convince the fire department so far. They exposed themselves to danger to life and limb and therefore expected the best and fastest medical care for themselves and the population.