Thousands of German doctors protest pay (AP) Updated: 2006-01-19 14:50
Thousands of doctors marched through Berlin on Wednesday to demand changes to
the state health care system, including better pay and less bureaucracy.
Doctors are calling for better pay in hospitals and private practices, as
well as an easing of the paperwork they claim is cutting into time that could
better be spent caring for patients.
Organizers said some 20,000 people took part in protests across the country,
including 14,000 in Berlin, and estimated that about half of Germany's 100,000
medical practices were closed for the day.
Doctors protest in Berlin, Wednesday, Jan.18,
2006 in Berlin for better working conditions.
[AP] | "We would like to see politicians pay
attention to helping re-establish doctor-patient relations so that we can take
care of our patients and their worries and hardships, instead of filling out a
sea of papers," German Medical Association President Joerg-Dietrich Hoppe told
ZDF television.
Hoppe also maintained that one in three doctors' practices in Germany is
economically "endangered."
The demonstration in the capital was part of a weeklong protest that has seen
doctors close their practices in cities across the country to participate in
smaller rallies.
Health Minister Ulla Schmidt expressed understanding for doctors' complaints,
but argued that the government was not at the root of problems in the health
system.
"Only a fraction is caused by legislation," she said.
The left-right coalition government of Chancellor Angela Merkel has yet to
agree on how to reform Germany's state health insurance system.
Merkel's conservatives and Schmidt's Social Democrats campaigned for
diametrically opposed health reform plans before the election and, in coalition
talks, agreed only to revisit the issue at some point this
year.
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