The shortage of skilled workers also affects the resident physicians. A Munich doctor describes his futile search for staff – and explains how the situation is affecting patients and their health care.
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Rainer Stadler
There is no shortage of work for Berndt Birkner. He left his desk in less than ten minutes, and eight more appointments had already been booked. Most of it comes from Jameda, an online portal where Birkner has very good ratings. He’s been a gastroenterologist for more than three decades. He is in his early 70s and runs a practice on Max-Weber-Platz in Munich. Next to his study are two operating rooms, where he mainly works with the endoscope. His specialty is gastro-intestinal diseases, he removes polyps, does check-ups, early detection of colon cancer. In normal years, Birkner estimates that he has 2,000 to 3,000 operations. He knows exactly how many operations there have been since the end of June: zero.