Hospital reform "must not become reality under any circumstances," says Kretschmer

Saxony's Prime Minister Michael Kretschmer (CDU) wants to stop the hospital reform planned by Federal Health Minister Karl Lauterbach (SPD). "The hospital reform that Mr. Lauterbach came up with must by no means become reality," Kretschmer told t-online before a meeting between the East Prime Minister and the Minister of Health.

In Saxony, up to ten of the 120 locations in total would be threatened with closure as a result of the reform plans. "We consolidated our hospital landscape back in the 1990s and made the hospital system viable and financially sound." You can't plan for the Vogtland, the Swabian Alb and the Harz Mountains from Berlin, said Kretschmer. "Therefore, the whole process of hospital reform has to go back to square one."

The East German country leaders will meet with Lauterbach on Friday (11 a.m.) at a special conference in Berlin. The topic is medical care. The Federal Government Commissioner for Eastern Europe, Carsten Schneider (SPD), also took part in the meeting in the Saxon state representation at the federal level.

One focus of the conference chaired by Kretschmer is hospital reform. In addition, it is about ensuring the supply, especially in the rural regions of the east, and about a better data basis for health research.

According to previous information, Lauterbach wants to present the key points for a law on hospital reform by the summer break. However, several federal states announced that they would have the reform reviewed for its constitutionality by means of a legal opinion because, in their opinion, the competence of the federal states in hospital planning would be encroached upon too far. The plans of the traffic light coalition aim, for example, to classify the grown clinic network into three levels of care.