Status: 02/12/2022 08:38 a.m
Lots of older people, few medical practices – that’s the situation in many rural areas. This is also the case in Brandenburg. Even bonuses hardly attract new doctors.
Andreas and Marion Tränkner like living in the country. On their farm near Lübben they keep a few sheep and chickens as well as a lot of cats. Located in the middle of the forest, 20 minutes to the city, it couldn’t be more idyllic. “But you can’t just go shopping here, the tank always has to be full and the fire brigade needs more than half an hour,” says Andreas Tränkner. Country life has its difficulties.
6000 people without a family doctor – and the trend is rising
Another thing has recently been added: in nearby Lübben, the general practitioners are running out. After four of them gave up their practices, 6,000 patients fell out of care in one fell swoop. When Andreas Tränkner recently stood in front of his family doctor’s door, there was a sign: The practice is closed – forever.
“I needed a transfer slip, but you just can’t get in anywhere else,” he explains. Then he was lucky. As a diabetic, he is accommodated in a special practice. Many other people in the Dahme-Spreewald district south-east of Berlin are still looking. Marion Tränkner is one of them. “I can only hope that I stay fit,” says the 62-year-old. “So far I’m fine, I don’t have any major medical problems. But I still need a referral to a specialist from time to time.”
From practices in Lübben it can be heard on the quiet that “even private patients are being sent away” because the practices are already completely overloaded. And the supply situation could get even worse. The region is threatened with undersupply, warns the chairman of the Brandenburg Association of Statutory Health Insurance Physicians (KVBB), Peter Noack. Almost half of all general practitioners are over 60 years old. “You can’t submit a suggestion for improvement ad hoc,” says Noack. “You can only talk to the colleagues on site that they can take over the prescription of long-term medication.”
“Failure to Provide Assistance”
This is a serious problem here. Numerous patients no longer receive medication because other doctors do not want to issue the prescriptions. A member of the district council recently even described this practice in the health committee as “a failure to provide assistance”.
The description of an employee in the emergency room in the Luckau hospital also shows how urgent the need is. Patients without a family doctor would turn up there every day, seeing no other option for treatment.
Everyone involved is aware that the shortage of specialists in rural areas is nothing new. However, funds such as a bonus of up to 55,000 euros from the state and the KVBB do not seem to have the effect that new doctors want to settle between Lübben and Luckau. “Colleagues can still choose where to go. And very few are interested in settling down in the area, but then they go to regions near Berlin,” says Noack.
city wants to help
Recently there was a working meeting of politicians from the region, representatives of the state health ministry and local doctors. The problem has been identified, but no solution is in sight. Frank Neumann, the mayor of Lübben wants the city to take action itself. The city wants to “help and support you in taking over a practice or in the search for new practice rooms,” explains Neumann.
It is questionable whether the efforts will be successful. There is currently an application for a family doctor practice in the region and only two tentative expressions of interest. Marion Gärtner summarizes her prospects sarcastically: “Stay fit into old age and then fall over.”