German medical workers oppose reform bid

Some 7,000 hospital employees gathered in Berlin on Wednesday, urging the lawmakers to change the planned legislation.

"We demand a reform aimed towards well-being of the patients," chairman of the medical union DKG Thomas Reumann said in Berlin.

The law proposal would award financial bonuses to hospitals providing good medical care, and cut their budget for low quality care. It also aims to encourage medical facilities to specialize more, and to cut down on extra hospital beds.

The DKG, however, opposes the reduction of the number of beds and insists on more funding for the hospitals.

The reform would cut a billion euros in personal wages in 2017, according to Reumann.

Filling the gap

The representatives of the medical workers also urged the government to help the hospitals struggling with the lack of staff.

According to Ver.di union, German hospitals are missing 162,000 employees countrywide. The medical profession has long had to rely on migrant workers in a bid to fill in the vacancies.

The legislation proposal is spearhead by the health minister Hermann Gröhe, from the conservative CDU party. The government aims to provide 660 million euros in for the period between 2016 and 2018. Many, however, fear it would not be enough.

"The hospital reform doesn't even come close to filling in the medical workforce gap, it provides too little," representative of the opposition Green party Elisabeth Scharfenberg said.

SPD vows to help

The SPD, who are both rivals of the CDU and their ruling coalition partners, said after the protests they were "aware that many hospitals are in a difficult situation." The SPD announced they would work on improving the position of the health care staff and reducing the deficit of workers.

German lawmakers are still discussing Gröhe's proposal. The final version of the law is expected to go into effect in January next year.

dj/bw (dpa, epd, AFP)