The FDP Saar criticizes the policy of Health Minister Jung to limit the adjustment of hospital services to the city of Saarbrücken and to link it to funding commitments on a short-term basis.
According to the health policy spokesman of the FDP Saar, Dr. Helmut Isringhaus: “Minister Jung has linked funding commitments to Klinikum Winterberg and Caritas Hospital to short-term structural changes in hospitals in order to reduce duplicate structures. This approach apparently does not take into account that changes in hospitals require a certain lead time and that a city like Saarbrücken cannot be viewed in isolation – without considering the surrounding area. In the case of the closure of the vascular surgery department at Caritas Hospital, ignoring these principles threatens an acute crisis in patient care.
The attempt at an agreement between the two acute hospitals in Saarbrücken, along with the associated promise of insufficient investment funding, is not enough. The corresponding capacities should first have been built up in the respective counterpart hospital before dismantling functioning structures.
A meaningful structural reorganization is only possible with a strategically designed hospital plan for the entire Saarland. This would demonstrate that the state government is capable of meeting the future challenges of a modern and at the same time patient-oriented healthcare system.”
